Full Moon Monsters
by Stone-Man85
Summary: In the Mystical World of Mid-World, evil is once again coming to smite the world with darkness. And the only chance they have... is a gang of goblins continuously getting stronger every day. AU connected to the Full Moon High story.
1. Days in the Life of a Goblin

**Disclaimer: I don't own Goosebumps; it is the sole property of Scholastic Books, and its creator RL Stine. Original characters are of my own design.**

* * *

 **Full Moon Monsters**

* * *

 **Chapter 1: Day One of the Life of a Goblin**

* * *

 **Mid-World**

An Earth similar to the Earth of Prime, but with minor differences. The main difference, it parallels Earth in every way except that it is a world of fantasy. A world where creatures that you would read in fairy tales exist in flesh and blood. Where dragons are Lords of the Skies, and Magic is common every day. And where heroes rise to the challenge to defeat evil sorcerers and wicked demon kings of Hell. To where humanity is at its strongest with a sword in its hand and the people who fight alongside.

But this tale doesn't begin with humans.

* * *

 **Elsewhere**

At first there was darkness. No sound, no light, no senses altogether. The warmth of the darkness seemed to envelop a small figure, curled up in a fetal position. The figure was safe and sound in the darkness; he did not wish to leave it at all. But neither did it know of the outside world from within where he was. The figure's ignorance was content from within.

Until… a small light shined through.

It soon became bigger and bigger with every second. But the being realized that the light wasn't coming towards it. He was being pulled towards the light. And this frightened the figure to a great length. Once he was brought into the light, it was bright light. Light bright enough to blind anyone. Luckily it faded now, as a small cough was being made, and a loud crying.

Little eyes blinked as they tried to make sense of the light, and those around him.

There were big figures, adults possibly, hidden in dusk shadow, keeping their features hidden. But if the figure that was crying could comprehend color, they would have seen that there was some kind of green tint to their skin. One such was wearing a cloak and had a wooden cane with them, slightly balding with tidbits of gray hair on the side sticking up, and a long beard he was stroking. He was the first one to speak up, as he looked down at the figure.

"Hmmmm, he seems like such a small one," the elderly green fellow stated. "But then again, all the front-liner Goblins are at times."

At the moment, the little figure was bundled in a gray brown blanket. It was a small little baby with light green skin, pointed ears, and a face only a mother could… well, maybe not considering what it was. A baby goblin.

"I think we'll name this one… Rouhan," the Elder stated, as he scooped up the little babe as it was feeling drowsy.

Before he was carted off with the elder goblin, two taller goblin beings were pulling away a near exhausted figure. It was female due to her figure, slender and hourglass, fair Caucasian skin, with flowing and semi-curly silky black hair, and exhausted brown eyes. And she was completely naked from head to toe, like an animal. It was evident that the woman being dragged away was its mother.

As soon as she was out of sight, something happened no goblin could have ever predicted, even for newborns. The baby started to cry, almost as if it wanted the human as its mother. Even the Gramps Goblin was confused by this, but still continued to take the little babe to the nursery. There, lying in a picnic-like fashion of a cloth, dozens of goblin babies were lying about. But unlike Rouhan, they were all sound asleep, as the newborn was placed along with them.

Gramps looked down at the little baby, and sighed, "There, there. Goblins don't have the luxury of having childhoods like humans, elves, dwarves, kobolds, or even any other species in this world. In three days, you'll understand." And with that, he left Rouhan to cry out for a mother who would not come to cradle him or sing him to sleep.

* * *

 **3 Days Later**

The cave was still as dark and damp as ever, even with the newborns had fully grown to full-fledged Goblins. Even Rouhan had fully developed just as the other male Goblins; he had the body of a slim ten-year-old, bald, pointy ears, two canines jutting upward from his lower jaw, and a bald head. But unlike the other goblins who had yellow eyes… he had red eyes. But much like the other goblins, he was also naked.

He looked around as he also noticed the female goblins had the bodies of ten-year-old girls, pointy ears, and had yellow eyes too. But they also had small patches of short hair on their heads, so it was noticeably extinguishable from the males. That, and they also had female sex organs, which were noticeable since they were also naked. But one in particular caught his attention, as he noticed her. She was like the others; she had short green brown hair, but unlike the others, she had a silver tint to her eyes.

She soon noticed he was looking at her, and for a brief moment, he saw that she was blushing, and quickly averted her gaze from him, almost covering her front with her hands while turning to showcase her butt to him with no intention of flashing her a full moon, so to speak.

She turned to the young boy goblin, as she blushed, yelling at him frantically, "What are you looking at?!"

Rouhan quickly looked away, blushing, as he shook his head, "Nope. Not looking at anything. No."

At the moment, a more older and taller Goblin walked by, wearing a loincloth that went down to his knees, and started throwing large maggot-like creatures the size of bottles at them. The goblin offspring raced over there, and grabbed them, scavenging them and fighting one another to eat. But Rouhan arched an eyebrow at their behavior; it was as if he questioned the way things were. Just watching as both boy and girl, all naked since the day they were born, fighting each other for food.

He then noticed the older goblin walking away, as he finally asked, "Excuse me. But why don't you hand out clothing?" The Older goblin stopped, as he just looked at Rouhan like he grew a second head. But then Rouhan then asked, "Is there any way I can get some clothing?"

"You've got to earn it," the Bigger one answered.

Rouhan blinked at this, "Earn it? How?"

"Hunting, killing, surviving," the Bigger Goblin explained. "Out there in that world, it's survival of the fittest. Goblins age faster than humans; we don't have the luxury to take our time, have happy lives. Ours is a life of combat, killing, and death; we either kill to survive, or we die by the humans or anybody else that want us dead."

Rouhan thought about it, as he asked, "So I hunt and earn stuff for food and clothing on my own then?"

The Older goblin shrugged, "It's what the second generation did before you." And then proceeded to walk way.

Until Rouhan brought up another question, "Hey, where's my mom?"

He stopped again, and then gave him the same look as before, as he stated, "Kid. Goblins don't have moms or parents. All we've got are breeders."

Rouhan arched an eyebrow, looking away in thought, and then asked, "Okay…. Where do you keep the breeders?"

* * *

 **Later that Night**

 **Treasure Trove**

While all the goblins were asleep, adults and kids, Rouhan carefully and quietly started to sneak about the caves. It was large to say the least, well given that he was the size and build of a ten year old, to him they were quite enormous, but not a whole lot of rooms. There was one section were the 3rd generation and newborns slept, another one where the adults slept, a training/brawling section, a small room which they used for eating, and several other places some goblins used as their old storing cache. But there was one section of the cave that was forbidden for the other goblins but allowed for the older generation to go into: the Treasure Trove.

As Rouhan carefully made his way, passing the sleeping guard, who was only armed with a branch club, he slipped in and beheld what was inside. Inside was a bigger section of the cave, and stored in it were sacks and crates full of items and weapons. Some even had barrels of weapons, and bags of money laying around. It must have been where they had stored stuff they either found on battlefields or abandoned forts… or stuff they got from raids.

But the biggest prize they had was what Rouhan found in the back. There, laid against a tower of crates and barrels were human women, at least six or seven of them. They were all naked and dirtied like they hadn't bathed in a while, with food plates before them like they were animals but with no chains. As Rouhan got closer, he noticed why they were chained up. They each had eyes that looked like they had belonged to a deaf fish. And he knew why that was.

Rouhan learned not too long ago by the Elder Goblins: siring offspring is a tricky business for Goblins. Goblins that paired with Goblins often found themselves childless. Rouhan then learned the secret of how Goblins corrected this problem: by breeding with kidnapped human women. The mating and breeding was brutal, as Goblins were relentless, not slowing down or giving the women time to adjust what was going on. They were treated like animals, and as time went on, their minds would soon break, and they would become breeding stock; losing any personality the humans may have had.

But then Rouhan saw the woman from three days ago: the woman that gave birth to him. She seemed asleep, so he didn't know if her mind was shattered like the others. She crawled over, until he was five feet away from her form. He knelt down like a dog, as he saw his mother for the first time. Despite the dirt and grit that stuck to her, she was beautiful. It was almost as if this life of being nothing more than a mating meatbag had done nothing to shatter her.

And so, being very bold, Rouhan cleared his throat, slightly stirring the woman awake. Once she saw the Goblin, she thought that she would soon be mated again. But something happened then she didn't expect.

He looked at her, almost hoping, with no hint of lust in his eyes, and asked her, "Are you… my mother?"

The woman batted her eyelashes, still half asleep, but didn't respond to his question. Rouhan then asked again, "Please, are you my mother?" But still no reply. Rouhan sighed, looking down and saddened, as he confessed, "I'm sorry if I troubled you. I just wanted to know who you were. I also wanted to know who I was mothered from." He then looked at her with a saddened smile before he left, "But I just wanted you to know I was happy knowing I had someone like you for a mother." And then proceeded to leave.

"My son…"

Rouhan stopped in his tracks, as he turned around, and saw the woman… smiling at him. He walked back and knelt down next to her, as she smiled, and spoke again, "You have your grandfather's eyes, as well as his voice."

Rouhan blinked at this revelation, but then asked, "Thank you. But… I don't understand. How is it you're still intact with your mind while the others are a bunch of dead fish?"

The woman looked back at the women, all lying down sprawled on the floor or laying on the wall like lifeless dolls. "Because they fought back until they were broken," she confessed, as she looked to Rouhan and smiled, "But I willingly gave my body to them to do as they needed."

Rouhan sweatdropped and arched an eyebrow in confusion at his mother, "Huh?"

The woman understood his confusion, and replied, "Before I became a breeder here, I was a priestess serving in the temple of Gaiseric: the god of Origin and End. The temple was destroyed by a mercenary group revered to as the White Hawks, and the remainder of the temple fled. Later on, my troupe in particular were caught and captured by this horde. Most of the men were slaughtered, and I was the only woman. Though the priestesses and demigods/demigoddesses are trained to fight much like the fierce Gaiseric when he was mortal a thousand years ago."

"But that still doesn't explain why you let them catch you," Rouhan asked with an arched eyebrow.

"Before our temple was raided, our oracle foretold of a prophecy," his mother explained. "The oracle foretold that a priestess would give birth to a chosen being that would one day rise up, and defeat the Five Demon Lords of the Pit of Darkness. This child would have a human mother but an inhuman father, but would have the intelligence of the human parent. That's when I was confronted by a much stronger goblin, I surrendered to them, giving my body to them."

Rouhan blinked in shock at all this, as he asked, "And… how long have you been here since then?"

The woman thought about it, and then casually smiled, "A month now."

Rouhan's jaw dropped like a brick, as he blinked, "But around that time, you must have birthed countless goblin spawn."

She nodded, "Indeed, I did. Though most of them were merely like the other goblins. I almost gave up, accepting that the prophecy would never be real and I almost gave in." And then smiled warmly at him, "And then… you were born."

"Yeah, but how do you know I'm the one," Rouhan asked, pointing to himself, still uncertain on all of this.

"Most goblin children, when they're born, start off going through life and never question of their origin. Neither do they cry like a human child," she replied. "But you did." Her eyes then started to flow with tears, as she tearfully confessed, "You were born a goblin, but the heart and understanding of a human. You're the one to end the Darkness that would soon come."

And then much to Rouhan's confusion and shock, she leapt at him, hugging his body close to her warm embrace, as she wept with joy, "My son. I'm so happy that you are my child."

Rouhan didn't know how to respond to this; the action that she had done wasn't even known to the goblins. All he ever saw was them shoving, fighting, punching, or beating the living daylights out of each other just to survive. And from what he heard, Goblins had a limited lifespan of twenty years. Though with growth and strength, it was possible to extend it more. So there wasn't any time for strange things like what this woman was doing with him.

But for some reason, the young goblin seemed to relax, as he was being held so gently by the woman that gave birth to him. He smiled, closing his eyes, 'I don't know what this action is… but it feels nice and warm… I wonder… is this what being held by a parent is supposed to feel?'

* * *

 **The Next Day**

Rouhan stood at the edge of the cave, seeing the brightness from outside. Now normally goblins were nocturnal beings, staying and being more comfortable in caves. But daytime was also a natural part of a goblin's life. They could venture out with no problems whatsoever. Though they preferred the cover of darkness at night; it made it easier to sneak up against an enemy. But if he would ever gain strength, or at least a decent pair of clothing, he needed to go out and hunt, build strength in order to survive.

He finally stepped out to the edge of the cavern walls, and straight into the light. He closed his eyes and shielded his face with his left arm, as it took a while for him to adjust his eyes to the light. Once he had, he was amazed to see the outside world before him. The cave he and the others dwelled in was in part of a vast and large forest. Trees grew as high to the sky, nearly blotting out parts of the sun as it were. They were pretty ancient, as vines were growing up on them. The ground was a mix of brown with green in them, typical for a forest. And deep far away, the darkness of the forest stretched on, as it seemed this was a big place in on itself. But who knew how far it stretched or what was in it.

Rouhan took a deep breath, as he puffed out his chest, and then sighed, "Okay… let's get started."

But at the moment, his mind wandered back last night on what his mother had told him.

* * *

" _You're best chance to surviving out there, Rouhan, is to gain allies," his mother explained to him, as she smiled, "In other words, do what no normal goblin has ever done: make friends."_

 _Rouhan looked confused at that word, as it seemed rather foreign. "What's a friend?"_

 _His mother thought about it for a moment, and then answered, "A friend is an ally who is important to you. You would do anything to help them, and if they're true friends, they'll return the favor. Which is why it's so important whether or not the allies you make will either be your friend or a pawn. In truth, friends are far better than pawns."_

* * *

Just as his train of thought ended, he heard picky fighting going out from behind him, as he turned to look.

"Dang it, Seiji, I wanted to be the first to go out after Rouhan," a low gruff voice cried out.

The figure ranting was a goblin, much like Rouhan. He was male and was the size of an elementary school kid with a bald head and green skin, such as the average typical goblin. Also, having completely yellow eyes, and much like Rouhan and all other goblins, he too was naked.

"You should have been faster than, Kichi," another voice spoke up, scratchy and annoyed.

The other figure was another goblin much like the two. He was male as well, elementary school boy build, bald head, green skin, and had yellow irises unlike Kichi. And yes, he too was naked. It was evident in their order that the big voiced one was Kichi and the scratchy voiced one was Seiji.

Rouhan took his mother's advice and decided to hunt in a group. Unfortunately, the other goblins seemed pretty dumb or just didn't care about any of each other. Rouhan had picked these two out due to their unique talents. Kichi was selected as he fought against a group of goblins ganging up on him, and he was able to throw or toss them away to get the most maggot bottle bugs. And Seiji apparently was the fastest, as he managed to grab and run rather fast. Kichi was obviously talented in strength and endurance, while Seiji was talented in speed, reflexes, and agility. Traits that would definitely be needed to hunt in this time. If the two could get along. But so far all they did was bicker and fight against one another; something all goblins apparently had in common with one another.

'It's no wonder we're at the bottom of the food chain,' Rouhan thought as he arched an eyebrow at the two arguing. 'Still though, we're not the toughest nuts to crack, since it was easy to convince these guys to help me out as a hunting group.'

Kichi walked up to Rouhan, as he asked, almost drooling, "So where are we gonna find our eats? You said if we went with you, we'd get something to eat."

"Yeah, I said that, but we've gotta hunt for it," Rouhan stated, as he pointed to the vastness of the forest. "And it starts going out there and looking."

The two looked out there, and both looked nervous on this, as Seiji gulped, "Isn't there a better way to do this than going out there?"

"You wanna eat," Rouhan asked in a deadpan tone and look on his face. The two nodded, as Rouhan talked normally, "Then stop whining and let's get going."

And with that, the trio walked into the forest to hunt, like all the other goblins did as others soon started going out, running around hunting.

* * *

 **Hours Later**

The deeper they got into the forest, the farther they were from the cave. So far, all three looked worn out and exhausted, their hunger getting the better of them. Kichi looked the worst of it, as he was nibbling his fingers or sucking on them. Rouhan and Seiji paled at this, wondering if he would actually do so and eat his hand. Rouhan looked away and paled in particular, wondering if he would have to resort to cannibalism at this point. 'If we don't find at least something with meat in it, we might resort to eating each other,' Rouhan grumbled.

Seiji groaned, 'We've been walking for hours, and still no food. At this point, Kichi's legs look good enough to cut, cook, and eat.'

Kichi drooled and groaned, 'Hungry… need… food…' He looked at Rouhan and Seiji's heads, as he licked his lips, 'The back of their bald heads look like maggot heads… man, I could use some maggots now…'

Suddenly, a rustling from the bushes caught the three's attention, as they stopped, and looked around. The trio didn't know what to do, but Rouhan motioned them to move into a nearby bush next to a large fruit tree. The trio managed to do so, as they jumped onto a cluster of dead branches that had fallen from the tree. Once they were out of sight, they looked over to see what was rustling through. And then suddenly, it popped out.

It was a one foot brown and white rabbit… with a medium-sized unicorn horn on its head. It hopped around, sniffing the air, as the trio of male goblins watched its movement. They all may have had different looks once they were looking at it, but all thought the same thing: they had found their first hunt. Rouhan looked around for anything that could be used as a stabbing or bludgeoning weapon of any kind. He looked down below, and grabbed a medium long stick, perfect to be used as a training makeshift sword of sorts. He turned to look at Seiji and Kichi, as both saw what Rouhan did, and immediately got the same idea. Kichi grabbed a long but medium width thick branch, easily big enough to be a club sword of sorts, as Seiji picked up two medium sticks the same length and width as Rouhan's. Now that they were armed, they were ready.

Kichi was about to charged out at first, but Rouhan pulled him down, as he motioned for Seiji to do the same. The little horned rabbit, or Uni-Rabbit, tweaked to their direction, but saw nothing. Its ears flopped around hearing anything, but nothing came up, as it went back to hopping and grazing about.

Rouhan looked to the trio, and stated in a whispered tone, "If we're gonna do this, we need to be smart enough to catch it."

The two looked to each other, and then Seiji asked, "How do we do that?"

Rouhan smirked, "I think I have an idea."

* * *

 **A Few Seconds Later**

The little rabbit was gnawing at the grass, not even aware of what would happen… until…

Kichi jumped out from the bushes, and roared out, "BLAAAAAAAAAAAAAGRABBABABLALBLALBALBLALBALBABBA!"

He started flaying his arms around like crazy, smashing his branch club around. The rabbit was freaked out to say the least, as it ran away from the 'crazy goblin'. Kichi saw it, as he chased after it, still roaring out like a maniac.

But just as the rabbit was heading out of there, Seiji jumped out, slashing down his two branch 'swords' down. They clubbed down in front of the rabbit, but luckily it turned and ran. But it couldn't run back the way it came, as Kichi was running towards it, clubbing away. The rabbit had no choice but to run straight ahead, as the two goblins were chasing after it. However, as it was passing a pass way of two trees… Rouhan appeared out of nowhere at the side, raising up his stick sword, and…

THWACK!

CRACK!

After two… or rather ten thwacks… Rouhan had smashed the uni-rabbit pretty brutally, breaking its back and neck, killing it instantly. The three goblin boys were taking a huge heaving of breath, after all the sprinting they had done. Rouhan looked at the kill, and walked over to pick it up. However, alarm bells in his head rang off, as he looked ahead of him. At that moment, Kichi and Seiji were readying their stick weapons, snarling at their 'leader'. They looked as though they wanted to fight him for the food.

Rouhan sighed, knowing full well what this would lead to, 'Ah I get it. The whole 'every goblin for his/herself' routine. Whether inside or outside the cave, it'll be the same everywhere.'

The two yelled out, as they pounced right at the kill… but then Rouhan swung at them both. Sounds of clanking and wood hitting bone were heard, as well as cries of pain. A few minutes later, both Seiji and Kichi were on the ground, sporting some bumps and bruises, with dizzied expressions on their faces as they twitched from the massive beat down. Rouhan stood there looking at both of them; the beat down was sort of his way of teaching these two about the pecking order in a way. But he gave up on it actually working, as Rouhan grabbed the uni-rabbit's corpse, and almost thought about leaving with it, seeing as how things weren't gonna work out.

But before he could make the first step, his mother's words echoed in his mind,

* * *

 _Which is why it's so important whether or not the allies you make will either be your friend or a pawn. In truth, friends are far better than pawns._

* * *

After hearing those words, Rouhan began to feel guilty over his actions as well as pity for the two that joined him. As Kichi and Seiji were getting back up, Rouhan looked back at the two, and then back down at the rabbit, as he sighed, 'She was right; friends are better than pawns.'

The two downed goblins got back up, each grabbing their wooden weapons and prepared to take Rouhan down again. Then after that, they would fight each other to get the uni-rabbit for the other's own. However, something happened that neither goblin intend to see happen… even if it was done by one of their own. Rouhan tore off the two legs and tossed them each one; the two grabbed the severed pieces, blinking in confusion and shock at this turn of events. Rouhan plopped down, holding the head and torso, as he tore open the chest, and started to feed off of the breast meat.

The two goblins looked clueless at this, and then back at one another to find an answer. But none was given, as Kichi arched an eyebrow and turned to Rouhan, "What the…? What is…?"

"It's call sharing," Rouhan answered, as he started to skin his piece. Though it was pretty messy as he had no blade but used his fingernails to do so. As he did so, he explained to the two, as Kichi and Seiji sat down, "All three of us caught this one, I figured we could share the spoils seeing as how it was our first, and possibly last, time hunting as a team."

The two goblins looked at each other in confusion, and then looked at Rouhan, as Seiji replied, "But… Goblins never share what they kill."

Rouhan looked at the horn that he had snapped off, and inspected it, thinking it would make a good sword due to his size and build. Then he turned to the others, as he gave them a half smirk, and replied, "Well, maybe it's about time we changed all that."

Unknown to the two, the female goblin girl that had scolded Rouhan for looking at her, along with a brown haired goblin girl, were sitting up a tree, eating fruit. They had come out earlier to scrounge for their own kill, but had no tools or weapons of their own. Instead, they had found a fruit tree and were mainly eating what they had managed to scrounge up. But the goblin girl was looking at Rouhan, amazed at what he had done. In fact, she seemed rather intrigued and fascinated by the leading goblin, almost blushing at his ingenuity and compassion.

Rouhan got up after he had finished his meal, and still had the fur in his hand, smiling at the two, while holding his new horn sword, "So, you guys wanna go hunt some more before night? If we work hard and fast, we should be able to get more furs for clothing, and more horns for weapons."

Seiji shot up, as he smirked, after finishing his drumstick, "Sounds like a plan."

Kichi hopped up, as he shouted, with the drumstick still in his mouth, "LETHS DO IT, RUUHNNN!"

Rouhan smirked, as he lifted his sword up, shouting, "THEN LET'S HUNT, GUYS!"

"YEAH!" the trio shouted, as they ran into the forest, forming a friendship that would soon have more in their lives.

* * *

 **Next Chapter: Rouhan's Team Growing; A Family is Made**


	2. Rouhan's Team is Growing

**Full Moon Monsters**

* * *

 **Chapter 2:** **Rouhan's Team Growing; A Family is Made**

* * *

 **The Next Morning**

The three goblins had killed quite a lot on their one day hunting. So far, they had managed to take down and skin fifteen Uni-Rabbits. At the moment, they were taking their kills to a section of the caves Rouhan had found on his own. It was a small but very cold cave, perfect for keeping meat to stay fresh. They hid it using a cloth they took from a bunch of goblins who didn't want to use it. They made it into a tarp to cover the hole and made sure that they weren't followed. As they were heading back, the three made discussions with one another.

Kichi voiced out his hunger pains, "Why couldn't we eat all of it? There was still more to eat."

"If we did that, we wouldn't have any leftovers," Rouhan stated. "Besides, we had five of them before we got back with the ten still remaining, as well as the furs and horns."

"Well, yeah, but I'm still hungry," Kichi complained, rubbing his tummy. "I'm a growin' goblin boy. I need a lot of protein."

Seiji arched an eyebrow, as he stated, "What do you mean growing? You're the same build as me and Rouhan."

Kichi got into his face, as he shouted, "Hey, don't mock my appetite! And besides, it's not like we're gonna stay goblins forever, right?"

Rouhan nodded at that, "Yeah, that's true."

It wasn't four days ago that Rouhan learned that goblins could level, or evolve, into bigger and stronger forms. The next stage in a goblin's life… if they reached it… was a Hobgoblin: a goblin race that were more humanoid in appearance, voice, and features. After that… it was pretty much a mystery to them. Though it would have to be on hold until they went out for the next hunt.

However, as they rounded the corner… the same goblin girl that scolded Rou from looking at her, as well as her friend, stood there. The three boys stopped, as they were blocking their way, arms crossed and looked at them rather suspicious. They said nothing as they glared at the three boys, silently spooking them out in the process.

Finally, the girl that shouted at Rouhan stated, "I saw you guys hunting. Care to explain what you're doing back there?"

The three looked to one another, and knew right then and there was no way to get out of this. Rouhan sighed in defeat, as the green goblin looked to the girl, "Well…."

* * *

 **Later On**

 **Elsewhere**

All five were sitting together, with all the other goblins ignoring their conversation. At that moment, the angered suspicious faces that the two goblin girls had were replaced with shock and surprise. The lead goblin girl asked Rouhan, "Y-You guys hunted and killed fifteen Uni-Rabbits?!"

The young goblin boy shushed her, not wanting her to tell the whole cave, "Yes. But you can't just blow the horn on it."

The second goblin girl asked, "How is it you three managed to survive them?"

Rouhan arched an eyebrow, as he asked, "Huh? What do you mean?"

"She's got a point," the first female replied. "I mean, we've seen other goblins drag back corpses of our own. They all had horn marks; like something had been rammed through it."

Rouhan paled at that, as did Kichi and Seiji, as they all thought, 'Seriously?!' But then Rouhan thought calmly, 'Now that she mentions it, the first nine of them did seem pretty easy to kill, but when it came to those last six…' After the first nine seemed pretty easy, the last six instead of run away… charged at them. Rouhan was lucky enough to come up with a strategy of tricking the rabbits to ram into trees, getting them stuck, and then he, Kichi, and Seiji finished them off in their stuck and trapped states. He sweat dropped as he thought, 'Man, I'm lucky I was quick enough to come up with that last part.'

It was then that Rouhan had realized the harsh fact: Goblins were kinda dumb. If they didn't have the ingenuity to use a stick as a weapon, they'd be easy pickings for creatures like this rabbit.

"I have to admit, I thought there was something different about you. Rouhan, was it," the first goblin girl asked, catching Rouhan's attention. But then he noticed she was smiling at him… and blushing, as she finished, "But you're not like the others. You're clever… and strong."

Rouhan blushed at that, taken aback by the compliment, as well as the cute smile she had, 'She… she thinks I'm strong?' he then asked, "Really? Me?"

The female goblin nodded, "Yeah, so far none of the others can compete with you."

He then changed the subject, as he pointed to Seiji and Kichi, "Well, what about these two?"

The goblin girl looked at Kichi, and bluntly stated, "Average." And then looked to Seiji, "He's pretty quick on his feet, but I don't think he's like you, Rouhan."

Both Seiji and Rouhan sweat dropped while Kichi remained indifferent, as both thought, 'Well, at least she's honest.' But then Rouhan asked aloud, "Say, what have you two been eating?"

"Fruit and stuff," the other female answered, nonchalantly in a way.

Rouhan thought about it for a moment, and then came to the conclusion, as he looked at the two, "What are your names?"

The lead female goblin pointed to herself, "I'm Mia." And then pointed to her friend, "And this is Shino."

Rouhan stood up, as he clapped his hands clean and put them on his hips, "Well, later on today, me and the guys were gonna go hunting again. And I was wondering… do you two wanna come with us?"

Both girls were a bit shocked by this, even Mia, as she stuttered, "R-Really? You want us to join you?"

Rouhan nodded, as he half-smirked, "Yeah, I mean fruit's good for ya, but if there's no protein in the diet, it can't be that good if you're trying to build up strength." He looked to the others, "You guys are okay with this?"

Kichi shrugged, "I don't mind, Rou."

Seiji nodded, as he grabbed his new Uni-Rabbit horn swords, "Hey, if three goblins could catch that much later on, imagine what we'll catch today with five."

Mia's eyes widened with surprise, but then she hung her head down, shivering while placing her fists on her knees in a kneeling position. Rouhan thought he might have said something to offend her, as he walked to her. "Mia? Hey, did I say something wrong? You okay?"

But suddenly, she jumped at him, glomping him until they were both down on the ground with her smiling, "You really mean it, Rouhan?" Blushing, he nodded to her, as she embraced him again, almost nuzzling him, as she cried out, "Thank you, Rouhan. I promise you won't regret it!"

But Rouhan was blushing, as both their naked bodies were rubbing against one another, as he stated, "Mia, you're naked. Can you please get off me?"

"Why? What's the problem, Rouhan," Mia asked confused.

"We're not wearing anything, that's why," Rouhan stated. "I don't have the material to make anything for us to wear yet, let alone effective weaponry."

While the two were debating on that, Shino walked up next to Kichi, as he looked to her and asked, "Something wrong with this? I don't get why Rouhan's acting like that; she just seems happy to be in the group."

"Yeah, he should actually be lucky," Seiji stated, folding his arms as he looked away, looking jealous, "Lucky guy having a girl all over him like that, gushing."

Shino, on the other hand, smiled at this as she commented, "Not sure myself. But I can definitely say this. In the four to five days since we've been born, I've never seen Mia this happy."

* * *

 **Later On**

The group, now a group of five, were wandering through the forest to look for any uni-rabbits at sight. So far, it had been a few hours, and so far… nothing.

Kichi was biting his fingers, rather just gnawing at them, while he still held his club branch, "Rouhan… when are we gonna find some food? I'm starving."

Rouhan grumbled, "We're all starving, Kichi. We just need to put up with it until something comes our way."

Mia wobbled over to Rouhan, holding her Uni-Rabbit horn weapon in hand along with a stick, as she moaned and whined, feeling the effects of starvation already, "Rouhan.. how long does it usually take to find food with you guys? We've been out here for two hours…"

The rumbling in Rouhan's stomach was getting to him too, as he sighed, groaning, "Takes a while, but for some reason, it's taken a bit longer."

"Wonder why," Seiji groaned too, though he asked not in sarcasm but in honesty. He looked around, as he was looking for someone, but then asked, "Hey, where's Shino?"

"She went on ahead," Rouhan answered. "I asked her if she could look ahead, get a better clear view of where we're going."

Mia looked around, and then noticed, as she spoke her mind aloud, "Now that you mention it this place is unfamiliar. I think we've gone a bit farther from the cave."

Now that she mentioned it and looking around a bit, Rouhan did notice they were in an uncharted part of the forest. It seemed like it would stretch on forever, what with all the trees, hills, steep slopes, and so forth. Though there were still animals and birds making sounds, they were hidden in plain sight. The young goblin just had to wonder what was out in this area for them to use.

"Hey, you guys," Shino's voice suddenly cried out as they all looked around. Finally, they saw her up on a hilltop, shaded by the trees, as she pointed behind her, "You guys won't believe what I found! Check this out!"

The others ran up after her to see what the big deal was. Once they got up there, they were stunned to say the least, as they caught a glimpse of what it was that the brown haired female goblin was all excited about.

Everyone was at a complete loss of what to say, well say for Kichi since at times he didn't really know what to say. The thing that Shino wanted to show them and led them to was in fact a beautiful lake oasis that lay surrounded by towering boulders and cliffs on one side and dense forests of trees on the other. Moss-covered, rock formations jutted from the water's surface like sentinel statues while roaring waterfalls created clouds of misty white as they cascaded down the deep crevices that scarred the cliff's surface. There were even a small waterfall near mass amounts of exotic plants like elephant ears, exotic flowers, and other things. Truly, if goblins had the right to have paradise, this would be theirs in this hunting ground of a forest.

Shino smiled at seeing such a sight, "I know… it's so beautiful."

Mia smiled, as her eyes sparkled at seeing something new other than the dank and dark blackness of the cave that they lived in. "Y-Yeah, it's like a starry night in daytime," she smiled. She looked to Rouhan, as she asked, "Isn't it beautiful, Rouhan?"

He nodded in agreement, "Yeah, I mean it's a better change in scenery than the cave."

Seiji leaned on a nearby rock, as he smirked, "The light's a good change, with all the colors, I'll admit."

Kichi blinked, as he shrugged, "I don't get it. It's just a big puddle of water. What's the big deal?"

Everyone groaned at Kichi's bluntness as Shino shook her head and half-smirked at Kichi's cluelessness. But as everyone was trying to get over Kichi's cluelessness at the beauty of the oasis, Rouhan's mind was remembering something back from last night. Something his mother was talking about.

* * *

 _Rouhan arched an eyebrow as he frowned, "Baths? Why do I need to do that? I'm always covered in dirt, and if I get any clothing, it'll just be the same. Why bother?"_

 _His mother merely shook her head while retaining her smile, but she explained, "Well, it may seem odd and unnecessary by your fellow goblins, but it's very important to keep yourself clean."_

 _Rouhan blinked, "But why?"_

" _Well, it's like this," his mother explained. "_ _Practicing good hygiene will not only help with interacting with other races but help ensure no animals can detect your scent. This will allow you to catch food more easily."_

* * *

While the others were conversing with Kichi on why it was so beautiful, Rouhan lifted his arm to smell his armpit. He immediately shuddered at the smell, shaking his head. 'Boy, I am ripe,' he thought to himself, and then blinked, 'Maybe our smell is what's causing the animals around us to back off.' He grumbled as he sweatdropped, 'Man, I never thought I'd hate it when my mom was right about something.'

He placed his uni-horn sword down, and then ran down to the oasis, jumping up in the air…

SPLASH!

Everyone went wide eye and stopped what they were doing, as they looked down, seeing Rouhan bobbing out of the water. He spat out some water, as he began to swim around the oasis lake. At this moment, everyone just looked in confusion, but then Seiji smirked, as he ran down with the others following him, as he commented, "Good idea, Rouhan. The water's teeming with fish. If you keep swimming, they might come to the surface." He then drooled a little, "I'll bet the fish in there are tasty as ever…"

Rouhan stopped his swim-about, as he blinked, "What…?"

But Mia looked confused, as she stated to Seiji and Rouhan, "Wait a second. I think we might need some fishing gear. Otherwise all that thrashing would just scare them off."

Rouhan shook his head, as he explained, "I'm not hunting or fishing. I'm just taking a bath."

Now it was everyone's turn again to be confused at this, looking at him with blank and confused looks on their faces. Finally, Kichi asked the obvious question, "A what?"

"A bath," Rouhan explained. "You know, for keeping clean."

It was Shino's turn to ask a question, as the brown-haired female asked, "Why? What's the purpose of this bath or bathing that you're talking about?"

"It's mostly just to get clean," Rouhan explained it as best he could. "The animals will know that we're coming if we smell, like… well goblins. But it'll be easier to set traps and ambushes if we don't give off the scent the animals will know as danger. I think it's also the reason why we haven't had any luck finding anything. I mean we give off a pretty foul smell." He then went back to swimming, as he left the others with their thoughts.

The others looked to each other, pondering for any answers, as Rouhan was swimming around, going under and coming back up. Shino looked to her friend, and asked, "What do you think about it, Mia?"

Mia was a bit nervous on it, as she brought her arms up, with her hands balled up under her chin, "Well, I… I don't really know about this…"

"I'll do it," Kichi stated, as he dropped his club and started to run towards the water.

"Same here," Seiji said, as he threw his weapons aside, and they both ran for the water.

Both girls blinked in this, as they asked, "Hey, what are you doing?"

"Joining in," Seiji replied back. "Rouhan's hunting skills have helped us so far. If this thing called a bath helps us with getting food, then I'm gonna give it a try."

"Same here," Kichi nodded, and then they both jumped right on in. The girls looked for a moment, as did Rouhan, until the two busted out of the water, with Seiji gargling as Kichi smiled feeling the coolness of the water, "Aaaaahh. Wow, this actually feels pretty good."

Seiji began to swim around, as he smirked, feeling the freshness of being in the water, "Yeah, it beats walking around in the heat like crazy from earlier." He then stopped, as he looked at the two, "You two should jump in too. The water's fine."

Both girls looked at the clear blue water in uncertainty. But then they felt the heat from the sun become much worse. Finally, Shino put her stick down, as she cried out, "That's it! I'm going in!"

Mia blushed at this, as she asked, "You are?!"

"Well, whether Rouhan's right or not, I'm not gonna sit in this heat while those three get to cool off," Shino stated, and then jumped into the water. She resurfaced, as she sighed in relief of the warm yet very cooling sensation of being in the water, "Seiji's right. This does feel nice." She then dived down into the water, disappearing down below.

Mia was feeling a little bit unsure, rather worried in point of fact, 'I don't know. This still doesn't seem like a good idea when we should be hunting.' But then she felt it getting hotter as she began to sweat more and started to feel slimy, as she felt uncomfortable, 'But this heat isn't helping.' "I can't take it," she thought as she threw down her weapon, and jumped forward, crying out, "EEEEEEEEEYAAAAAA!" and then crashed into the water, and blinked as she saw herself underwater floating. She felt something odd as she opened her eyes to see Rouhan, underwater with her as she realized she jumped on top of him. They both swam up to the surface.

Both taking a breath of air, as she apologized, worried that she might have done something offensive. "Rouhan I'm sorry. I didn't know you were there. Are you alright?"

Rouhan coughed up a bit of water, but shook his head, being rather calm on it, "Yeah, I'm okay." He then cleared his nose, as he apologized, "I'm sorry though. I didn't see you jump into the water when I went underwater." But then he asked, "So… does it feel good?"

Mia took notice of the cool feeling from the water all over her body. The feeling of weightlessness as she floated with her head and shoulders being the only thing to touch the surface. The coolness and warmth of the water felt so good, so relaxing to her, that she had forgotten the hard and dirty floors of the cave they lived and slept in. She closed her eyes and smiled, "Yes. Yes, it does."

SPLASH!

Mia was brought out of her relaxation by Rouhan splashing water on her, as she spat out, "Hey, that was mean!"

Rouhan smirked as he continued, as he laughed, while she called out, "Okay, knock it off! Stop!" He did so as he swam back laughing. Mia then huffed, but then smirked evilly, as she swam after him, "Oooh, I'll get you for that, Rouhan!" And then jumped at him, as the two wrestled and splashed in the water, having a water splash fight amongst the two.

Kichi smiled seeing Rouhan having a good time with Mia, "That looks like fun." And then saw Seiji backstroking, as he jumped at him, "SPLASH FIGHT!" But all that could be heard was Seiji screaming in fear, as Kichi launched right at him.

Meanwhile, Shino continued to swim underwater, taking in the view as he rnaked body floated underwater, as she looked around with her yellow eyes at the underwater world. 'Amazing,' she thought to herself, as she looked around. 'It's hard to believe that there's a whole other world under the water. I guess it just shows that there are worlds within the world.'

Suddenly, a sparkle caught her attention, as she looked down, and noticed a black stone on the floor of the oasis lake.

She swam down to it, and picked up a chunk as big as a baseball, examining it, 'What is this?' She felt it for a moment, rubbing her hands on it feeling the texture of the stone, 'They look like stone, but it feels so different. I wonder…" but she went wide eye, as she realized she was running out of breath.

Immediately, she swam back up for the surface, still clutching the black rock, as she broke out on top. Bursting out and taking a break, she called out, holding the rock, "Hey, guys! I found something!"

Rouhan and Mia stopped playing as they looked to Shino, and Kichi and Seiji were pretty much tangled up in vines due to their playing, as they all looked at the pure black rock sample in her hands.

* * *

 **Later That Day**

 **Back at the Cave**

The five were sitting around in a circle, with Rouhan's arms crossed in thought as he and everyone else looked at what they had so far. Their stick weapons as well as the uni-rabbit horns as handheld swords, as well as a small but thick trunk that Kichi had grabbed, thinking it could be pretty handy as a club. Along with the pile were the vines that Seiji and Kichi had become entangled on earlier from the swim. They were apparently thin vines, to which Rouhan figured they grew around the oasis, as well as moist and rooted areas in the caves. Next to them were blades of grass that Mia had found accidentally by stepping on them, called steel grass; they were needle-like and just as strong, and also found near the oasis and the caves. Rouhan figured those two things would be useful in sewing their soon-to-be clothing together. But for the most part, they had the carcasses in storage, prepping to skin the hides later on. But at the moment, they were all curious about the black stone that they had managed to bring back, albeit being pretty heavy.

Kichi arched an eyebrow, as he looked over the black stone, "What is it?"

Rouhan shook his head, "Honestly… I have no idea."

Everyone was surprised to hear that, as Shino quizzed, "Seriously? Aren't you the big-time expert on the outside world?"

Rouhan sweat dropped at that, as he thought, 'I can't let any of them know that I get this information from my mother. Better play it cool.' He shrugged, "I never said that I was. But I've just never seeing anything like this rock before."

Mia took an opal-shaped rock of it, as she looked, "Well, what should we do with it?"

But at that moment, one of the elders, the one that Rouhan recognized as Gramps, hobbled next to them, and stopped, as he asked, "So what are you five up to?" They looked at him as he caught their attention, but then looked down at the prizes, "Well, I see you five have had a good fine day finding supplies. Where did you find all this?" But then he blinked at the black rock, as he asked, "And where may I ask did you find that rock?"

Mia answered that question, "Shino found it at the bottom of a lake today when we were out hunting."

Kichi sighed, "We didn't get a chance to find food though. Just vines, grass blades, and this strange black rock stuff."

Rouhan then noticed the way the elder looked at the rock, and then asked, "Do you know what the rock is, Elder?"

"Call me Gramps. Everyone else does," the Elder insisted. "And yes, it's called Black Obsidian. It's a strong stone that can be made into strong knives. This kind of stone is usually found near volcanoes. So it's pretty rare to find something like this around here in this forest. The mountains are far from this place, and the only known volcano is Mt. Inferno."

Kichi picked up a piece, a he looked at it, and simply shrugged, "Looks like a rock to me."

Seiji shook his head, as he took the piece in Kichi's hand, "Hey, don't go confusing this…" and then knocked on Kichi's head, "… with this."

Kichi was just fuming with anger, as he snarled at Seiji, "Why you…!" And then jumped right at him, tackling him to the ground, as the obsidian rock rolled back in the pile. The two were in the biggest brawl ever, as they started to fight one another, forming a dust cloud around them.

Gramps chuckled at the scene, while the others just shook their heads. He then wobbled off, as he said, "That Obsidian rock, if sharpened down right, can make pretty good knives there, Rouhan. Excellent for anything."

The idea gave Rouhan an even better, one, as he grabbed one of the rocks. He began to wet it down, smoothing it out, thinning out his first piece, as it broke into longer thinner pieces. With time and patience, Rouhan and the girls had before them three knives out of the obsidian rock, with some cloth wrapping around the handles. Both boy stopped fighting as they took a gander at the blades.

Rouhan smirked, as he stated, "Now this will be good for skinning hides."

Kichi then asked, "Does that mean we can finally make our own clothing now?"

Rouhan nodded, "High time now." He got up, taking the knife in hand, as he walked towards where he hid their stash. "Kichi, can you help me?"

Kichi got up, with ease even with Seiji still grabbing him and locking tightly around him. "Sure." But then threw Seiji off, as he walked after Rouhan, and the two going into the blackness of the cavern.

A little while later, they came back with seven uni-rabbits, and with their knives in hand, they began to skin the rabbit carcasses. But while all five worked, other goblins started to look at them, watch them in curiosity. A few of them laughed, thinking what they were doing was rather useless and foolish. Though Rouhan didn't pay them much heed on it, as they continued their work.

* * *

 **The Next Day**

Rouhan and his group were making their way deeper into the forest, past where the oasis was. But this time, they were properly clothed and geared up. Rouhan was now sporting a brown loincloth, and brown wraps around his lower legs, going from under his knees to covering his feet, with his toes and heels sticking out. Backpack straps were strapped to his chest and back, as latched on the back was his medium-sized uni-rabbit horn, now fitted with a wooden and bone strapped hilt. And on his right forearm were two small and one medium uni-rabbit horns strapped together, making an arm shield.

Mia's outfit consisted of a brown skirt that ended at her knees, while she had a midriff shirt with no sleeves of brown material. Slung over her shoulder was a slingshot staff that Rouhan had made for later use. When she tried it out for target practice without anyone noticing, she had made perfect straight shots with it, showing that she had excellent accuracy, making her perfect for it.

Kichi was wearing a brown loincloth and armbands that went from his hands to his biceps. Strapped to his right side was his makeshift stick club, and on his right, a bigger, thicker club made from the tree trunk that Rouhan had brought along.

Seiji was wearing the same kind of loincloth that Rouhan and Kichi wore too. He had foot bands going from his feet to knees, and had bands covering his hands minus his fingers and thumbs, but had bands on his biceps. Strapped to both sides of his waist were two medium-sized uni-rabbit horn swords, fashioned the same way that of Rouhan's sword. And strapped across his chest were mini-obsidian dagger blades made form the leftovers of the obsidian.

Shino, was wearing a mini-loincloth skirt, with cloth bands going from her feet to her mid thighs, and on her arms, from her wrists to her biceps. She had a fur vest that was buttoned on the front by a small bone, acting like a midriff shirt, and strapped to her back were sticks fashioned with Obsidian blade spikes.

And each and every one of them had strapped on either their leg or their waist an obsidian black knife.

They looked around, hoping to find some animals, when all of a sudden, rustling in the bushes caught their attention. They backed together into a group, ready for anything. The rustling got louder, as they drew out their weapons, waiting for the kill. And then…

Out of the bushes hopped out two brown and white underbelly uni-rabbits. Only they didn't look like they had horns. Instead of horns, they now had medium-length blades on their foreheads, and around their necks were a kind of collar of spiked blades, with little big fluffy tails.

They blinked at this, as Shino commented, "Wow. If it weren't for the blades on their heads, they might be adorable."

Rouhan arched an eyebrow, as he commented, "Adorable? Maybe. What do you think, Mia?" But no response as he turned to her, "Mia?" And then sweatdropped.

Mia was all hearts in her eyes, as she blushed like crazy, "THEY'RE SO ADORABLY CUTE!"

The boys all sweatdropped, as Seiji asked, "What are you, goblins or girls?"

Shino brought out her makeshift pickaxes, "Sometimes we're both."

Suddenly, the Blade-Rabbits screeched at them, alerting them to be ready. And then suddenly, they jumped out, attacking them, as they scattered, separating the bunnies as best they could. Kichi and Shino ran into the bushes with two of the blade rabbits going after them, while Rou managed to grab Mia and give her a boost up a tree, while he and Seiji ran to keep the rabbits running after them.

While they were being scattered, Mia grabbed three rocks from her satchel and placed one in the sling staff. Rouhan ran out there in plain sight with the rabbit following behind him, and then she made her move. She shot right at it, hitting it right in the head as a huge cracking sound was heard, killing the rabbit as it crashed down. But Rouhan turned around, as the Blade Rabbit hopped right at him. But he drew out his horn sword… and impaled it right in the air; its body squirmed a little until it slumped, showing it was finally dead.

Mia hopped down from the tree, as she slowly made her way to Rouhan, who was frozen for a moment. "Rouhan? You okay?"

Finally, he returned to normal, as he brought his hand down allowing the rabbit to slide off his horn sword. He brought it up to him as he examined the blood stained weapon, and was amazed, "This horn… it's incredibly strong."

But he blinked back to normal, as he looked to Mia, who seemed a bit confused on his words, as he smiled awkwardly, "Sorry. Bit of a rush there."

However, Seiji got out of the bushes, grabbing his kill of a blade rabbit, but then dropped it… and pulled out two throwing knives, as he threw it right at Mia and Rouhan. However, the two noticed this, and would have attacked the action… had the blades passed them and struck something else. The two turned to see where its intended targets were, and saw anaconda-sized snakes, with yellow eyes glowing with control in their red slits, fangs as long as daggers, dripping with poisons, tongues long enough to wrap around someone's waist like a tentacle, and big enough to swallow ten men all at once.

The daggers had been embedded into their heads, going all the way through to their jaws. The giant snakes slumped down to the ground in massive heaps, as the two stunned goblin hunters blinked at what would have happened. Then they turned to Seiji, who relaxed his stance, as he shrugged, "Behind you."

"Hey, guys!"

The trio turned to see Kichi and Shino walking back to them, each one having Blade Rabbits in their hands, as Kichi called out, "Sorry we didn't regroup as planned, but that last Blade Rabbit chased us into a den of those things."

Shino smirked, as she raised two handfuls of downed blade rabbit carcasses, "We got a mother load of them. Kichi got a little cut up, but he fought amazingly." She turned to the goblin, smiling, "He wouldn't even let up, not even for a second."

Kichi smirked, as he scratched the back of his bald head, "Yeah, but you did a pretty good job back there too. You just kept swinging those pickaxes like crazy."

Shino smiled, a small tint of a blush showing on her face from his compliment. But then the two looked and saw what had gone with their friends' actions. They saw the two giant snakes downed, and their sized made their rabbits seem like small fry. Kichi blinked, as Shino stood there, pointing out in shock, "I guess those Fire Vipers top our horde of blade rabbits."

Rouhan would have bragged about it, but he had better sense on it, but noticed something else that Kichi was dragging, as he pointed, "Hey, Kichi? What do you have in your right hand?"

Kichi looked down, and pulled up his right hand, showcasing two new animals. They looked like raccoon dogs, but with silver plates of armor growing from their backs, going from the spine starting point of their tails to the bridges of their noses.

Kichi smirked, "Oh yeah, these little buggers are Armored Raccoons. These things were tricky since their backs were armored…" and then nudged to Shino. "Luckily, they're not all that fast, and Shino flipped them over while I crushed their ribs and stomachs."

As they all grouped, Seiji then pointed out, "Well… anyone wanna start skinning and eating? I'm starved."

"Same here," Kichi roared. "Let's chow down!"

* * *

 **After a While**

They had skinned and sliced up the Fire Vipers, and were enjoying the feast before them. As they did so, they got to work with skinning the Blade Rabbits they had killed. They had to be patient and careful with it, so Kichi was pretty much left out as he just stood watch, keeping an eye out on the area, while he chewed on some Fire Viper on a stick. As they did so, Rouhan had broken off two of the Blade Rabbit blade horns, and fashioned for Seiji two medium-blade swords to replace his horn swords. While Rouhan was eating some Blade Rabbit meat, as well as some Fire Viper meat, his eyes lit up, as he felt something seep into his body. For a moment, he stopped while his eyes flittered, almost like he was dreaming.

It didn't take long for the others to notice something odd about him, as Mia looked concerned, and poked him for attention, "Rouhan? Are you okay? Rouhan?" But he still didn't answer, until she yelled out, "Rouhan!"

He finally snapped back, as he blinked, "Huh, wha…?"

Mia looked at him, and asked, "You alright? You were staring off in space. Is anything wrong?"

Rouhan shook his head, rubbing his hand over his head, as he sighed, "Nah, I think I'm just exhausted. I mean, we're just sitting down and barely finished with this huge snake." He stood up, as he sighed, "Let's bag and take this stuff back to the stash."

Seiji got up, stretching himself out, as he groaned, "Sounds like a plan."

At that moment, Kichi walked back to them, as he spoke up, "Hey, guys. You won't believe it, but I think a cave's nearby."

Blinking at that, everyone grabbed their weapons, and walked to follow Kichi. It seemed while he was looking out as a sentinel, he had spotted something not too far from them. About a yard away as they walked by, they found a cave similar to the one they all resided in. but this one seemed uninhabited by any goblins. It sure didn't smell like goblins resided in it.

As they stopped halfway, Rouhan drew out his weapon, "Better arm yourselves."

Shino asked, "Why?"

"We don't know if there's anything or anyone in there," Rouhan warned them. "And if there is someone or something in there, we don't know if it's friend or foe."

Kichi shrugged, "I dunno about that. It seems pretty abandoned."

"Then how did you notice this cave," Rouhan asked.

Kichi scratched the back of his head, "Well, there were these flashes of color from the darkness of the cave. Pretty much an eyecatcher, I think."

At that moment, they heard faint screeching heading from the cave. But they all heard it was getting closer towards them, as Rouhan realized it may have been an ambush. "Everyone, bunch together! Stay strong," Rouhan ordered. "And whatever you do, don't falter!"

Everyone bunched together, making a shield of themselves as Kichi stood strong, with his club acting as a shield. And then suddenly, brown bats the size of golden retrievers started flying out, hitting their pile up. Although they were bats, they had translucent wings that sparkled and shimmered with rainbow colors on the inside of their wings. Rouhan and Seiji stuck up, with weapons out, as they slashed, stabbed, and swiped at the hording barrage upon them. The bats then flew up in the sky, disappearing from the canopy of the trees above them.

The goblin group looked pretty ragged as they were a bit scratched and bleeding slightly as they stood there. But around them were nearly five downed Rainbow Bats, all stabbed and slashed at. Some of them twitched a little as the group broke up.

Rouhan huffed, as he wiped his sweaty and bleeding brow, "Whew. This has been one crazy day."

* * *

 **That Night**

 **Goblin Cave**

Everyone went to sleep as all the goblins were huddled together in a huge pile. Though in Rouhan's section of the cave where he made a small home for himself, it was a completely different story. With all the pelts they had gained from all the Uni-Rabbits and Blade Rabbits, he and the others had pelts that could be used for sleeping bags, as mats of the fur were sewn together as Seiji slept atop of one, as Kichi slept like a rock on another with Shino curled up next to him without him knowing, and all of them were sound asleep, covered in blankets of the pelts as well.

Rouhan was still wide awake, sitting Indian style, as he was sewing up what appeared to be a shawl out of the wings of the Rainbow Bats they managed to kill during that little swarm. But he was stopped at the moment when he heard someone sit behind him. He turned around to see a rather disappointed Mia, looking rather saddened.

He blinked as he asked, "What's wrong, Mia? Can't sleep?"

"No," she replied, as she shook her head, "I can sleep. But… I wanted to apologize for not being of help."

Rouhan arched an eyebrow, as he asked, "Huh?"

"I was only able to get one target, and it was the Blade Rabbit," she replied. "Seiji, Kichi, and even Shino managed to get so much more out of today, but I…"

But then she felt a pat on her head, as she looked up, seeing Rouhan giving her a sympathetic smile, "It was your first time hunting. And the sling staff only had one ammo for it. But next time, it'll be different. You'll always have more than one opportunity. And besides, I wouldn't say it was a total loss; you got your first kill, and we all got more than one item with all five of us together. Right?"

Mia was taken aback by that honest answer, as well as Rouhan's understanding. A small tint of a blush was on her face, but she smiled like a little kid, "Right."

The two smiled for a moment of silence, but then Rouhan's face went to surprise, as he scrummaged, "Oh, that's right. I've got something for ya." He then held it out, a mini-shoulder cave that looked like it went to the top of her butt, but shimmering with an array of color.

Mia was awed at its beauty, as she graciously took it, keeping her eyes on it, as Rouhan explained, "I made it out of two wings of the Rainbow Bats. I figured you needed something more than just a shirt and skirt." He thought about it for a moment, "Though it might be a bit too colorful for you on the hunt, but…"

"N-No, it's okay," Mia said, as she shook her head, keeping her voice down to keep the others from waking up. "It's beautiful, so it's okay, Rouhan."

Rouhan also dug something else from behind, "The shawl cape took a little longer than expected, so I made this as well." He held up a rope necklace, with three fangs sewn into it, "They're made from the fangs of the Rainbow Bats as well. I figured it'd be a cool keepsake. I mean, you can wear it if you'd like."

Mia's smile couldn't get any wider, but it did, as she smiled, "Thank you, Rouhan. You're awesome."

Rouhan blushed a little, as he looked away, "I'm not that cool."

Mia took the necklace and slipped it on herself, and just couldn't stop staring at her new jewelry. Rouhan then crawled back in his bed, pulling the fur blanket up on him, "Man, I'm bushed. Hopefully tomorrow will be better for the hunt." Suddenly, he felt rustling from behind, as he turned around… to see Mia snuggling up. He blushed a little at this, for some odd reason, as he asked, "M-Mia? What are you doing?"

"I didn't get a chance to sew my own bed or blankets. Sorry, but could I…" she asked, blushing rather awkward in this situation.

Rouhan sighed, knowing full well the whole day was busy for all of them, and quite exhausting. He half-smirked, as he nodded, "Okay, but tomorrow, I'll help with the blanket and bed, okay?" Mia nodded, and scooted in for her nap. But as she did, Rouhan blinked, and wondered, feeling her warmth to him, as he thought, 'It's not the same as Mom hugging me. This feels… different.' He looked down at Mia's sleeping form, and for some unknown reason, he placed a hand on her head, as she seemed to moan out a purr at his touch, 'It may feel different… but warmth from someone else, it just feels… well, nice. I'll have to ask Mom what it means later tomorrow night.' As he started to fall asleep, another thought popped into his head, 'And what was strange buzzing sound in my head. It felt like… something was being poured into my brain.'

As he slept soundly with the others, the yellow eyes of goblins from in the dark were watching them. Envious eyes and growling stomachs but did nothing as they backed off, allowing the team of hunters to sleep after their daily quota.

* * *

 **Next Chapter: The Beginning of Wisdom; the First Pages of a Hero pt. 1**

* * *

 **Voice Actors:**

 **Rouhan: Kevin Thoms**

 **Mia: Tara Strong**

 **Kichi: Khary Phayton**

 **Seiji:** **Vic Mignogna**

 **Shino:** **Ashley Johnson**

 **Rouhan's Mother: Wendee Lee**

 **Gob Gramps: R. Bruce Elliot**


	3. the First Pages of a Hero pt1

**Full Moon Monsters**

* * *

 **Chapter 3: The Beginning of Wisdom; the First Pages of a Hero pt.1**

* * *

 **Day 7**

 **Deep in the Forest**

Not long after a day had passed that Rouhan's group was gaining good experience with their hunting. In fact, Gramps had brought Rouhan over to tell him that he was getting stronger with every day. Though he stated it would take long for Rouhan to become a Hobgoblin, to which the young goblin asked. Gramps explained that once a goblin had become strong enough to reach level 100 in his strength, he would evolve or transform into a Hobgoblin; a goblin variant that was considered superior in their species. They would gain the height, hair, and humanoid variations and traits that humans would have. And if he kept it up, it was possible that he could reach the level of Ogre, and that would be something.

As they prepared to hunt that day, sitting in the forest, tightening their bandages and sharpening their obsidian knives. Seiji was working to fix up swords made from the medium bladed horns of the Blade Bunnies. He was also helping out Shino in making brass knuckle gloves using the sharp fur of the Blade Rabbit's neck at the moment. Kichi was just standing watch, looking around. Rouhan was currently working on a dagger blade made from the Blade Rabbit horn left off for himself, while he still kept his Uni-Rabbit horn sword in place. But at the moment, he finished something else.

"Hey, Kichi," Rouhan called out, catching the average Goblin's attention. "Here." And then threw something at Kichi, as he caught it.

He blinked, as he looked in his hands, a wooden shield with the scale plating of the Armored Raccoon's back hide sewn and nailed into it. His eyes went wide, as he asked, "Is this a shield?"

"Yeah, I figured you had the same problem I do: the left arm always exposed," Rouhan stated. "Problem solved. It should be perfect for a frontliner like you."

Kichi's response was a bright smile and him hopping up and down around in a joyous circle, tossing up the shield and catching it. shino smiled at his happiness, as Rouhan got back to work.

Mia, after gathering enough rocks, sat down next to Rouhan, as she smiled, "That was a nice thing you did there, Rouhan."

Rouhan glanced at her for a moment, and looked away for a moment, "Um… thanks." Mia arched an eyebrow at his behavior, while Rouhan thought, 'Okay, this has just gotten awkward. Why did Mom have to tell me that last night?'

* * *

 _The night earlier ago, Rouhan had snuck in to see his mother yet again, hoping to ask her of information. She still sat next to the girls, all naked as the others, but Rouhan noticed there were a few girls missing. When he asked her what had happened, she explained that they had passed; they had bred so much that they had lost strength and then finally succumbed to their weakened states and died. But her mother made him forget all that, as she asked him about his friends._

" _Well, Kichi's kinda average but he's strong, charges in head first. He's a pretty brave goblin. Seiji's quick on his feet and likes to joke around, and he's pretty handy with two swords. Shino's just as tough as Kichi, though she has this kinda girlie feel to her whenever we run into those horn or blade rabbits," Rouhan mused. But then he looked away, feeling awkward as he started to speak about Mia, "Mia's… well…"_

 _His mother soon looked surprised at her son's change of attitude when this girl, Mia, was about to be explained. But she seemed to be intrigued by this, as she asked, "Mia? Interesting. Tell me more about this Mia."_

 _Rouhan wasn't sure why his mother was so interested by this, as he finally had the nerve to speak again, "Well, Mia's… she's fast, smart, and pretty good with sharpshooting. She's about as girlie as Shino is, but she always seems to stick with me like glue. Not that I don't mind."_

" _And?" his mother asked, smiling at seeing her son so embarrassed._

" _W-Well, whenever she hugs me or sits near me… I get this weird feeling in my stomach," Rouhan confessed, as he scratched the back of his head. "And my skin gets all tight and clamy, though in a nervous way."_

 _His mother giggled a little, as she smiled, "It sounds to me like you have a little crush on this Mia."_

 _Rouhan blinked at that, as he asked, "A crush? What's that?"_

" _Well, by definition, aside from the usual verb meaning, it's described when you have a crush on someone it means you have developed a strong desire for another person." Rouhan's eyes widened with shock on that, even as his mother smiled, "Eventually, it may grow into true love. Though it might wear away, though I wouldn't jump to conclusions yet on it. the usual symptoms of it is that you'll get metaphorical butterflies in your stomach, meaning you'll get shy and blushful."_

 _But then Rouhan began to panic, "But! That would mean…!" But he lowered his voice to make sure no one heard him. "But… that would mean… " He shook it off, "What am I thinking? I've only known this female goblin for almost a week."_

 _His mother shrugged, "Well, you never know. But if you're truly into this person, you shouldn't let that stop you. There's still hope for the future. You've already developed a good friendship with her already." She blushed a little, as she confessed, "I think it's rather sweet you've found someone you love."_

* * *

Rouhan grumbled at that memory, leaving Mia confused, "Rouhan? Are you okay?"

He snapped back to reality, as he cleared his throat, "Oh! Um, I'm okay, Mia."

"What were you think about," she asked in a confession.

Rouhan shook his head, looking the other way, "Nothing important. You don't wanna know."

But Mia smiled right at him, as she replied, "I want to. It's always interesting to know what's on your mind."

'Well, I can't tell her that I might be developing a crush on her, or falling in love with her,' he thought to himself, but then decided to cover up his thought with a previous one. "Well, I'm guess I'm just wondering… what we all will end up being once we evolve into Hobgoblins."

Mia thought about it for a moment, and wondered, "Not really sure." But then she looked to Rouhan, as she thought aloud, "Though, I think for you, you'll be tall and muscled, have hair on your head. You might be pretty handsome…" But then she stopped herself, as she blushed looking away, "I'm… gonna go for a walk. I'll be right back." And then she was off, rather in a hurry.

Rouhan blinked at that, but looked away, as he blushed, "Handsome, eh?"

* * *

 **Not Far**

Mia had made some good way, trying to distance herself from Rouhan and the others. She stopped as she leaned on a tree in the green, as she sighed, "Handsome? What is going on with me?" She clutched her claw fingernail hands over her heart, looking down at her feet, as her heart beat faster, "Why is my heart beating so fast? And that handsome comment, that doesn't make any sense…"

Suddenly, a rustling in the bushes caught her attention, as she stood up, and arched an eyebrow, "Rouhan?"

But suddenly, something shot out riding on a white steed. However, this steed had organic armor plating on its hooves, shoulders, rump and nose. But on the nose, three long sharp horns were in place. The figure appeared to be a human sized hunched back lizard man of sorts. Its skin was peach skin color, its hair was long and white, and it had a long tail and had two large arms while there were a smaller pair of arms under the primary pair. The being was dressed in dark brown and light brown robes and bandages. It rode past her, but then suddenly, she got snugged on by accident, pulling her along, as she screamed out.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH! ROUHAN, HEEEEEELP!"

Not far, Rouhan and the others heard that scream, as Rouhan got up, "Mia?" he heard the scream again, as he sprinted out, "MIAAA!"

The others chased after, and as they did, more rustling in the bushes were heard from behind.

Rouhan got a good head start, sprinting as fast as he could. But something happened, as he went wide eye: the same tingle feeling in his head went off, and he suddenly leapt upward, climbing the tree. He suddnely started to leap from branch to branch, gaining distance between himself and the horse. It was strange for him, it was almost as if all the uni-rabbits and blade rabbits he ate somehow gave him increased agility and speed. But it didn't matter, as he saw Mia being dragged by this horse and strange rider.

Finally, he leapt down, bringing out his Horn sword… and rammed it into the right rump. The Triple-Horned Horse cried out in pain, as it crashed on the ground, along with its rider and Mia. Rouhan ran over to Mia, as he carefully helped her up.

"Mia? You okay," he asked in concern for her.

Groggily and disoriented from the dragged ride, Mia placed a hand on Rou's shoulder, as she nodded, "I'll be okay."

He gently brought his face up to see her, and saw a few scratches here and there, but she was okay, "You look okay."

She smiled a little, as she commented, "I guess being with you's toughened me up more than you or I thought."

Rouhan blinked at that, and then smirked, "Yeah. I guess so."

At that moment, as the robed being was struggling to get back up, something charged right out of the bushes. They were large crustacean-like creatures, their bodies black and purple. They were protected by what appeared to be a tough exoskeleton or carapace, giving them a hunchback appearance, with tentacles that they shambled on, their left arm was humanoid and long, with three sharp claws acting as fingers and a thumb, while their right hand was a massive crab-like claw, and with glowing purple eyes. They appeared to be steeds of sorts, as they had riders on their backs.

The riders were tall bipeds that had a combination of avian and reptilian features. They wore elaborate but threadbare robes of what appeared to be lace, velvet, and brocade which seemed to make them look larger and more intimidating. Their heads were beaked like a vulture's, while sporting curved fangs. They had large bellies and long reptilian tails, as well as curved quills on their backs which they hid under shell-like back ornaments. Despite the frail appearance, they were powerful creatures, as they held heavy weaponry.

The crustaceans that followed… had in their claws, Kichi, Seiji, and even Shino, as they were held prisoners. Rouhan was about to attack, along with Mia who drew out her obsidian knife, as the reptile birdmen charged at them… but passed them as they surrounded the old man.

They began to prod and strike at him with their heavy staffs. And with each strike, electricity shocked the weak old creature. Before Rouhan could question on what was going on, one of them dressed in red, walked over to the two, as he whimpered, "Mmmhmmm… you were the ones who stopped the rogue Mystik? Very impressive… even for a goblin."

Rouhan blinked, "Huh?"

The red clad one nodded, "Mmmmm… yes." He then pointed to the Mystik that was being karted away by the others. "This one has been causing all sorts of trouble for us." He then smirked at Rouhan, "In return, we should celebrate your victory at our home."

Mia then spoke up, "If you want to thank us, then why did you kidnap our friends?"

"He didn't kidnap us," Shino spoke up. "While we were chasing after you, we got grabbed by these guys, as the red guy, or the Chamberlain as he calls himself told us that he and his Garatins were trying catch this guy."

"We just got dragged along for the trip," Seiji replied.

Rouhan looked at the harsh and twisted being, as his aura gave him a sort of… uncertainty with his words. He thought about it, as he stated, "I'm not entirely sure…"

"We'll have a great feast," the Chamberlain smirked, as this caught the others' attention, even Kichi as he drooled like crazy. "And I promise, they are all rare delectable that even goblins such as yourself have yet to have."

The rumbling of their stomachs made them give in much sooner, as Rouhan and Mia blushed in embarrassment, as he confessed, "Well, we haven't had anything yet. So I guess so."

"Excellent," the Chamberlain spoke as he brought Mia and Rouhan over to his Garatin steed. "We leave… immediately."

* * *

 **Not Long After**

The goblin troupe followed with the Chamberlain and his men were making their way through the forest… until they got to an area baron and dry of the forest. The area was rocky, sandy and devoid of any life of the forest. It seemed to stretch around a mile in a full circle. And where they went… appeared to be some ruin temples of sorts made into a canyon in the area. As they went down, the Chamberlain explained to the others as they went down.

"Our people, the Szekis, first made their way here decades ago. At first we had a hard time, what with those savage beings, the Mystiks, always giving us trouble. Though with time and our great courage and strength, we were able to tame and domesticate them," the Chamberlain stated.

But Rouhan looked behind him, seeing the Mystik that had been caught, and was being dragged rather harshly. Once they were deep within the canyon, the temple features were vast and ancient. Wlaking towards their direction, strange little gray skinned and bald people made their way to them. They were a pale gray, and had dead eyes like zombies, and dressed in ragged brown robes. As the goblins were put down, they passed the goblins, showing that they were around their height, as they took the Mystik away.

But not before a Szekis, dressed in black armor, ruthlessly beat him, shouting, "YOU STUPID MYSTIK! You dare to think you can escape?! You think you can fight against us!? WORTHLESS, WEAK, HOLLOW BEAST!"

Seeing such treatment, Rouhan stepped up, stopping the general, as he stood between them both. "Hey, stop it," Rouhan stood there. "He's had enough."

The others were worried on this action, seeing such brutality from this general. It was evident the general was peeved, as he growled at Rouhan, "Who do you think you are from stopping his punishment, GOBLIN FILTH!?"

"General, calm yourself," the Chamberlain stopped him, as he motioned to the goblins, "These are the ones that caught and brought him back."

The General calmed a bit, but then huffed, "Very well then." He then looked to the little people, "Podlings! Go take this Mystik to the cells. We shall devise the proper punishment for him later." The general then walked over to the goblins, as he stood proudly, "In the meantime, there will be a feast to celebrate your victory! COME!" And then proceeded to lead them all.

But even as they eagerly went to the feast, Rouhan looked behind him to see the Mystik being taken away by the Podlings and the Garatin. There was something that just didn't seem right about all this.

* * *

 **That Night**

 **Dining Hall**

The Dining Hall seemed as dark as the rest of the place, even as the Goblins sat with the Szekis. The Podlings all shuffled through, with vast serving plates as they brought the food over to the table. As they did, Rouhan the others looked at the food before them, didn't seem all that pleasant. It looked like it was all rotting and slimy; all in all, it didn't seem all that edible. But not to the Szekis, as they dug in, with the table manners of wild animals.

Rouhan and the others paled at this, as Rouhan scooted the food away, "I think I just lost my appetite." Everyone agreed with him on that, but Rouhan took notice of the way the Podlings were being treated.

One of the Szekis, dressed in white and gray robes, with a lens over his right eye, swatted one of them, as they fell to the floor, as he scolded, "Don't just shuffle around, you pathetic twit. Take the plates away and just get the desserts."

Rouhan looked at the treatment of the Podlings, and then looked to the Chamberlain, as he stated, "Um… I notice that your treatment of the Mystiks and the Podlings is somewhat… harsh."

The Chamberlain merely whimpered a shrug, "Mmmm. Not really. It's no different than the way the humans treat – what did they call them? Oh yes… horses."

Rouhan looked the other way, as he thought, "I guess so."

But then another figure, who seemed to be clad in black and gold, with a sceptar in his hand, their leader, looked to Rouhan and asked, "I must ask, Rouhan, was it? Are you the only ones of your kind?"

But then Kichi shook his head, "Nah, we're actually part of a much bigger clan than just the five of us. We live in a cave pretty far from here."

But Seiji elbowed him, as he whispered a scold, "Kichi…"

The Emperor scratched his chin in thought, "I see." He then gestured to his land, "Then why not all you come to live with us? There's plenty of room here, armor to clad yourself in, food to eat, plus this is far better surroundings than being in some dank and dark cave."

The goblins looked to one another, some wanting the idea to move some place bigger. But Rouhan… he looked back at the Szekis and then back at the Mystiks as well as the Podlings, seeing how the Szekis treated them so. He could tell alarm bells were sounding off in his head at this sight, and wasn't sure if it was such a plausible idea to do all that. The goblin caves were a sanctuary for the goblins themselves, not to mention that his mother was in the Treasure Trove. He already saw how the Szekis treated the Mystiks and Podlings, who knew how they would be treated if they became neighbors to Goblins. And he didn't even want to know how they treated humans either.

Rouhan politely smiled, as he gracefully gave his answer, "We appreciate your kind offer, Emperor…" the Szekis all smiled at this, but frowned, as Rouhan finished, "But… I'm afraid I don't have the say in this, or anyone else here. The Elders are the ones that make the decisions… for now. The Hobgoblins in our clan are all out hunting far, so if we were to leave…"

"I understand," the Emperor nodded, with the others doing so.

But Rouhan got up, as he asked, "Is there a bathroom nearby?"

"Down the hall, go down ways, until you find the tenth door. It shouldn't be that hard to spot," the Chamberlain stated.

Rouhan bowed, "Thank you." He then ran off down the hall.

Even though the Szekis had their understanding, the Emperor secretly sneered, as he took the decline personally with no one knowing the wiser.

* * *

 **Down the Hall**

Rouhan walked down the hallway, getting a feel of the place, as he looked around. But as he did, there was just something that seemed out of place with the place and its occupants. However, before he went further, he felt a chill go down his spine. He slowly reached for his obsidian knife, as he whipped around… only to startle Mia in place.

He stopped, as he blinked, "Mia? What are you doing?"

"Wanted to make sure you found the bathroom," Mia answered. But then asked, "You don't look so easy. What's wrong?"

Rouhan looked around, scratching the back of his head, "It's just the more I look around this place, the more I think that the Szekis are lying about this place being their home."

"How so," Mia asked.

Rouhan pointed around, "This place looks more like a temple rather than a castle. And the designs are so bright and wise. While the Szekis are um… well…"

"The opposite of what they are, right," Mia asked.

Rouhan nodded, "That's why I think they're hiding something from us."

 _COME_

Rouhan jumped as he looked around, trying to find the source of the voice. Mia looked confused as she asked, "Rou, are you okay?"

"You didn't hear that? Someone said…"

 _COME_

Rouhan jumped again, as he looked to her, still looking around though, "There it is again."

Mia looked uneasy, as she started, "Rouhan, you're starting to scare…" but then Rouhan grabbed her wrist, as they both sped down the hallway, as she whined, "Rouhan, what's going on?!"

"Someone's calling me," Rouhan stated, sounding determined than crazy, as they sped down. "They're telling me where to go and how to get there without the Szekis knowing about it."

"What? How," Mia asked.

"I don't know, but somehow they're speaking in my head," Rouhan answered, still running and taking Mia with him. "They sound like they're in danger."

"How do you know," Mia asked.

Rouhan simply answered, "Just trust me on this."

Nothing else was said, as they two ran down the hallway and into the darkened place of the castle. However, shifting from behind the shadows, the Chamberlain whimpered in the shadows, knowing all too well the young goblins were up to something.

* * *

 **Next Chapter: The Beginning of Wisdom; the First Pages of a Hero pt.2**


	4. the First Pages of a Hero pt2

**Full Moon Monsters**

* * *

 **Chapter 4: The Beginning of Wisdom; the First Pages of a Hero pt.2**

* * *

 **Deep within the Palace**

After a length of running, Rouhan and Mia had reached a big massive door. It looked big and black, with markings like scratch marks made with fingernails. On the only two windows, bars were made in place to prevent breaking in. However, Rouhan looked at the lock and saw it was being locked by a giant padlock of sorts. The keyhole was big enough for something like say, a uni-rabbit's horn to fit right in. He drew out his uni-rabbit horn sword, and held it up, ready to strike. And then suddenly, he charged at it full blast with a strike to the center. It was so powerful that it busted the lock and sent the pieces to the floor scattered, as the door inched open without the lock to hold it in place.

Mia blinked in shock and amazement at that show of strength, and looked to Rouhan, "Rouhan? How did you do that?"

Rouhan shrugged, "Not sure. Guess all that hunting and what we've been doing's paying off."

The two entered into the room, as they looked around, seeing nothing but darkness. But as they went in further, shapes and a little light started to take in effect. Night vision, one of the best features for a goblin to have. As their eyes finally adjusted, what they saw shook them to the core. Lined up at the wall, barred cells were twisted and crafted from sheet metal spikes. And in the cages, Podlings and Mystiks were all in them.

As they went down further, seeing the cages stretch down, Mia was the one to ask, "What is this place?"

"This is where the Szekis keep us during the night."

The two looked and saw a cell room that was big enough as a horse pen, holding many Mystiks. Rouhan walked over to the cells, as he asked, "The Szekis… this isn't their home. Is it?"

One of the Mystiks nodded, "Yes."

Mia, now concerned and curious, asked, "What happened?"

One of the Mystiks walked up to them. But this one was different from the rest of them. He was older, larger, and wore more pristine robes to show his age and wisdom. His white hair nearly covering his face, adorned his head like a silver white crown of sorts. And his eyes glowed bright white, with no signs of irises or pupils. He stopped in front of them, as he explained, "I am Lazzor. The Eldest and Wisest of the Mystiks."

Rouhan bowed his head, a customary he learned from his mother, and asked, "Oh great and powerful Lazzor…" And then looked up to him, "What's going on with your people and the Szekis?"

"Countless moons ago, this was a thriving sanctuary for our people," Lazzor explained. "We had achieved a culture not based on technology or conquest. But more of knowledge and exploration of the Arts of Magic. Some would call it… Paradise. Our people were prosperous." Rouhan looked around, and saw the smiles of the Mystiks remembering those days, but then they grimaced and became serious, like how a person would be when they described a bad dream after they had it.

"But then… they came."

"A pestilence that swept over our valley like a dark flood," Lazzor continued, as the memories flooded back to him and his people. "The Szekis were upon us. We tried to fight back using our magic, but we were no match for their underlings. The Podlings were already under their power, using the power of an artifact that they had called the Dark Crystal. With it, they poisoned the lands we live in, bringing about their reign of ruin, and locking our powers for their own personal gain. For decades, they have abused this land, and if they are not stopped. I fear that our people will fade from history. Forever."

Mia in turn felt sorry for them, but she knew better. Goblins had to look out for themselves, and now, they had to worry about the clan. She didn't want to leave the Mystiks like this, but there was no alternative. And she knew that Rouhan was smarter than that too, and knew that he would say…

"How do we stop them," Rouhan asked. Mia looked at him in surprise at this, but kept quiet as she turned to look to Lazzor for any information.

"The Dark Crystal: it is the source of their power, and their means to control their minions," Lazzor explained. "Without it, they are merely reptilian birds without an army to give them strength."

"Where do they keep it," Rouhan asked.

"In the center of the Temple," Lazzor explained. "The Sun and Moon's lights always shine to illuminate the room. Now, they use it to power the Dark Crystal and themselves with its energies to stay off Death."

Rouhan nodded, as the young goblin sheathed his weapons, "We'll do it." And then ran off, taking Mia with you, as the Mystiks silently prayed for their victory.

Lazzor closed his eyes, as he opened them, showing Rouhan's silhouette in them, "The hero of Gaiseric has finally begun the first chapter… of becoming a warrior. And a hero to all his and other kinds."

* * *

 **Down the Hall**

Rouhan and Mia were hauling as fast as they could, but Mia was able to talk to him, "Rouhan, I don't understand. Why do you want to help them? I thought survival was something important for us."

"It is," Rouhan explained, still looking ahead. "But I won't let innocent or the helpless/powerless be bullied like this." He then cleared his throat, not crying to act all cool on it, "And besides, the Szekis Emperor was asking a whole lot of questions about our clan and where we live. I have a feeling that their next target is us for enslavement."

Mia blinked at that, "Oh."

But Rouhan looked serious, "But all in all, I don't like what the Szekis have done here. And I'm not gonna let them have their way."

Mia was stunned to say the least with Rouhan's selflessness, "Rouhan…" But suddenly, she was pushed to the wall, as Rouhan pinned her there, and was close to her, nearly six inches. She blushed at such an advancement, as she nearly stuttered, "R-Rouhan?"

"Shsssh," Rouhan politely hushed her. "Szekis."

Both were silent, as two of them, the Chamberlain and the General, were leading a few of the Garatins following suit. And being escorted by them were Kichi, Shino, and Seiji… all chained up and taken prisoner.

"Why are you doing this," Shino demanded for answers. "I thought we were welcomed here as guests!"

"SILENCE, GOBLIN WORMS," the General snarled out, as they continued to make their way to wherever they were going. "By the time we're finished here, you will tell us everything about your clan: how many members there are, the strategic location, everything!"

"Be happy that you live as our slaves to help in the cause of the Szekis," the Chamberlain whimpered with a smirk.

As they were being escorted to their cells, Mia slowly pulled out her sling staff. But Rouhan stopped her, as she looked at him confused, "Rouhan?"

"Let's follow them first," Rouhan explained. "We follow them, and hopefully we'll find out where they're taking them. Possibly near this Dark Crystal. Once we find it, we free the others and then we destroy the crystal. Once that happens…"

"Then the Mystiks would be free to use their magic," Mia finished, figuring out the whole plan.

The two then silently followed suit, keeping to the shadows as best they could.

* * *

 **Later On**

 **Main Cathedral**

The cathedral was a large oval-shaped room, with triangular openings up on the roof of the place. Pillars and platform-like balconies were all around the room. An opening in the floor with hot soot from lava beneath the place billowed out, with an eerie red glow from down below. Kichi, Seiji, and Shino were led into the room, and then chained to the floor. But the trio of goblins saw that they weren't alone. For there were also a few frisky Podlings chained around the circle, but also something else.

Chained across from where the Goblins were at, were five goblins much like them. The only difference was that they had brownish orange skin than their green skin. They all had the bodies of physically fit ten year olds, with the girls having short patches of hair on their heads much like the green goblin girls, and the boys were bald too, and were also naked as well. They currently showed not to have the skill or the experience they themselves had possessed, and lacked the weapons to boot.

The middle one was a female, with short black hair and golden eyes, obviously the leader. On her left was a stupid-looking male much like Kichi and next to him was a scrawny male who fought hard to try and break himself from the chains. On her right was a female goblin with black hair, fighting at the chains as well, and another female with a blindfold on her face, looking afraid as her body was shivering with fright.

Peeking out from a corner, Rouhan and Mia looked to see the scene play before them. But at the moment, what lowered into the chamber in the center of the group of the goblins and the Podlings, was the most awaited thing the Szekis were waiting patiently for. It was a massive crystal no bigger than two goblins on top of the other, and illuminated a dark purple aura, as the crystal itself was dark purple. This… was the Dark Crystal that Lazzor had told them about.

Mia gazed at the crystal, as she deduced, "I take it that's the crystal the Mystiks talked about?"

Rouhan nodded, "Yeah, but I wonder what they're doing with the others here? It'd be pretty risky to have them there just to break loose and shatter it."

Mia thought about it too, and knew that Shino and Kichi were powerful in their own way, as she asked aloud, "Yeah, what are they doing?"

The scientist Szekis drew one of the Podlings closer to the crystal, as he hissed, "You'll be the first for today, little podling." The Podling whimpered, crying out in its unknown native tongue, as the scientist chained him in place, "This won't hurt. In fact, once it's over, you won't feel anything: physically and emotionally. Then you can be the same as the other Podlings here: a slave." He looked to one of the more zombified Podlings, as he ordered, "Ready the reflectors and position them."

The slave reached on the wall, and pulled a lever. As that happened, mirrors started to position themselves, as they prepared to reflect the light of the crystal to him. As this was happening, Rouhan had already devised a plan, as he looked to Mia, "Mia. Can you get up to the 2nd level and position yourself to take head shots?"

She looked up there, seeing that the Garatins weren't in place up there. Although they were, they were more on the curled up position of sleeping or in some kind of waiting. She looked to Rouhan, and nodded, "Yeah, so long as the Garatins don't wake up to see me."

"Okay," Rouhan nodded, as he explained. "I'll keep them busy down here and free the others. You cover us from up there. While you do that, we'll try to break the crystal."

"Okay," Mia nodded, and then ran to the other end of the entrance without being spotted, and making her way towards the stair level.

Rouhan looked behind him, and then paled, as a Garatin was heading towards his direction. He pulled out his uni-rabbit sword, and growled, as he charged in. Meanwhile, back in the crystal chamber, the sun was coming into position in the openings above the roof. Once they did, the light hit the crystal, causing it to bean out lights all over the room. Once that happened, they hit the mirrors, which bounced back and forth, as they struck the little struggling Podling, as it shined light into the Podling's eyes. The Podling seemed to stop, as it just stared in a zombified state.

The doctor Szekis chuckled, as he explained, "Hehehehe, the reflector will capture the beams of the Dark Crystal itself as long as the sunlight shines in position. Now feel it, young Podling. Feel the power of the Dark Crystal."

As the Podling did, without hesitation or struggle, the light seemed to change the little Podling. His eyes became milky and lifeless. His body seemed to shrivel into a husk of sorts, as he appeared more skin and bones than a lively person. His skin became gray and almost colorless, as if all life was being sucked out of him. Then his hair turned white and limp, falling out as it left him bald. In truth, whatever was happening to him, it was almost all the light was being drained out of him.

All the Goblins looked at this in worry, but only Seiji asked, "What the heck are you doing to him?"

"Nothing harmful," the Doctor chimed, as the reflectors were moving out of position, as he looked to the young podling. The other zombified Podlings walked over and removed the restraints, letting their new follower free, as he slunked to them, a shadow of his former self, as the doctor explained, "All his fears, his thoughts, his vital essence, have all been erased and stored within the Dark Crystal. He is now a loyal servant to the Szekis as well as to the Dark Crystal."

He turned to the Goblins, an evil smile spreading across his face, as Shino gulped, "Why are you looking at us like that?"

"In truth, we never tested the process on any other creatures aside from Podlings. Mystiks are far more powerful than they were, but not powerful enough to fight against such a concentration of power," the Szekis scientist chuckled, "So I am interested in seeing what would happen if we tested the power on a Goblin…" and then pointed at the orange goblins, "Much less Oni Goblins." He then looked at them, as he taunted, "But which one should I use it on? The dumb males… the speedy males… or I should test it on one of the weaker females?"

GAAAAAAAAARGH!

The roar of a Garatin caught all their attention, as they looked to the other side of the room. There, staggering, with the top part of its main claw weapon torn off, with a uni-rabbit horn stuck in it. It staggered a little, until finally collapsed at the Chamberlain's feet, as he cawked out, "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! What is going on?!"

At that answer, a bloodied Rouhan stepped out from the darkness and into the light, as he was shown for all to see. It turns out the bleeding wasn't from Rouhan, as the blood was purple. A Garatin's blood. And in his hands was the handle he had used for his uni-horn sword. But now, in place of the horn was the missing upper claw of the Garatin, making it more of a buster sword for the goblin.

The Chamberlain freaked out as he saw the blood-soaked goblin, pointing to him, "It's their leader! He's gone mad!"

The General bellowed out, "GARATINS! ATTACK!"

Rouhan held his sword up in place, as the Garatins were charging at him. However, rocks were thrown hard and fast at their legs, causing them to falter over. Rouhan looked up as he saw Mia hard at work with her job, slinging rocks at the enemy. Before the General and the others made a move, Rouhan charged at them. He used the downed Garatin to jump up like rocks in a river, and leapt at the Scientist Szekis, who looked at in fright as Rouhan held up the Garatin sword. However, he passed the scientist, and landed behind him, slashing down.

The scientist, for a moment of fear, finally chuckled hap-heartedly, as he turned around, as he gloated, "Foolish goblin! You mi…!" but he stopped and paled at what Rouhan had done.

His intended target was never the scientist. It was the chains that held both his friends and the orange-looking goblins. Now freed, both parties cracked their knuckles and necks, as Rouhan smirked evilly, "Who's up for some payback?"

"You know I am," Kichi smirked, as he cracked his knuckles.

"CHARGE!" Rouhan shouted, as both parties charged at work.

Shino and the eye-covered orange goblin brawled out, tearing the Garatin legs off and used them for close-range daggers on those that didn't attack. Seiji and the battle-crazed female orange goblin used fast attacks to get at the legs of the remaining Garatin group they fought, causing them to buckle over as Seiji stabbed their eyes with his claws; his female counterpart did the same as well, but rather ate them out, along with tearing open their throats. Kichi and the orange goblin counterpart charged, beating the downed ones that Shino and Seiji had downed, using torn off claws as clubs to beat them to death.

The doors burst open as a pair of snarling Garatins charged in, cruel spiked swords clasped in their hands, and loose scale like armor covering their chests. They howled a horse throaty call as one pointed his sword at the ensuing chaos and through the doorway poured a brood of Podlings scurrying and hurrying with blank slack jawed stares descending on the goblins and slaves with a slow haphazard charge.

The guards though wasted no time and marched ahead of their slaves, descending on the Goblins with ruthless abandon. Their greater size allowing them to carve a way ahead for the reinforcements as the Podlings descended on their saviors. Soon the larger of the two bought their sword slashing down onto Shino, the metal splitting flesh and severing the makeshift limb-like knife she had formed. The second strike cutting the pointed ear of eye covered accomplice in one fluid moment.

Shino rolled onto the floor, clutching at the gaping wound stretching from her shoulder to her chest, dull red green blood leaking across the floor. The eye patched Goblin dived at the larger attacker and tried to pounce on him, but was soon drowned in a sea of Podlings, who snatched and clawed at her with all their might, forcing her back towards the others.

Seiji was quick to dodge the seconds guards attacks, but the blows from his claw made club did little to the huge beast, as the blows bounced off the scale like metal. The brute of a Garatin laughed, smacking him with the back of his hand and sending the poor goblin flying into his angry orange partner. He charged past however diving for the Chamberlin, grabbing him by the wrist and hauling him to the exit.

"Your excellency we need to get you out of here," he cried as he booted back a charging orange Goblin, only for the creature to wrap itself around his leg, clawing at the exposed flesh above the knee.

"No!" the Emperor screamed, as he pointed to the goblins, "Kill them! Kill them all!"

Rouhan just finished stabbing his Garatin, while the lead orange she-goblin pulled off one of the claws to imitate him. Ignoring the flattery of imitation from her, Rouhan looked at the crystal, as he looked to her, "Hey, what's your name?"

The she-goblin didn't ignore him, but kept her back turned to him, as she said in an annoyed tone, "Sayako. And what do you want, Goblin?"

Ignoring the annoyance in her voice, Rouhan pointed to the giant crystal in the center of the room, "If we both want to get out of here, we need to destroy that crystal. And by 'we' I mean both our parties."

Sayako looked at the massive floating dark crystal, and knew what to strike, as she smirked evilly, "Sounds good to me." And charged right at it, with Rouhan following after her.

The Chamberlain looked at the scene before them, and then spotted Rouhan and the she-goblin heading towards the crystal. Panic filled his eyes, and emanated from his voice, as he screamed out, "AAAAAAAAAAAH! THEY'RE HEADED FOR THE CRYSTAL!" He looked to the Podlings and Garatins, as he screamed, "Protect the Crystal at all costs! AAAAAAAAAAAH!"

His Garatin guard peeled off, drop kicking the Goblin on his leg into the air and onto the second level, charging into Rouhan and sending him crashing into a pillar. Rouhan rolled to the left, and then to the right as the Garatin guard swiped down at him, missing him by inches, before Rouhan raised his Unirabbit sword only for it to thrown out of his hand with a single powerful blow, the blade rolling across the floor and into the ensuing melee. He then felt the boot of the guard on his chest, pushing him against the pillar as he swung his sword back.

And just then Rouhan felt his blood run cold, struggling as his attacker thrust down, the Goblin seeing more Garatin and Podlings pouring into the hall from all angles. Yet as the final blow came Sayako jumped onto his back, using her hands to cover his eyes, forcing the strike off to the side and deep into the ground inches from where Rouhan lay. Now flailing around like made the Garatin danced about, swinging wildly as the Orange Goblin swung on for dear life, punching him the face when she could.

Suddenly, more stones were being pummeled right at the Garatin that Sayako was blinding. Mia was still attacking head on, as she managed to stop, and look at Rouhan, "Break the crystal, Rouhan! Go!"

Rouhan nodded, as he looked up at the accursed geode. In front of it, Podlings and Garatin were coming at him, but he ran towards them. With strength he didn't know he had possessed now, he leapt up, and landed on two of the Podlings heads, jumping from one to another, as he leapt up at the Garatins. He managed to grab one, using his hands to blind his eyes, as it flailed around with its sword and huge claw. The flailing creature knocked down its brothers and kicked away any Podlings swarming it, as he managed to get to the crystal. Once he was close, he hopped on to it, using his hands and his feet to crawl up to the top.

As he did so, he looked around, seeing the sight before him. Kichi had managed to use his club to batter the Garatin that attacked Shino, and cradled her bleeding form. Seiji and the other orange she-goblin were struggling as Podlings were swarming them like ants would do to a kill. And then he heard a small scream, as he looked up, seeing the General hold Mia off the ground, with one hand on her neck with a dagger in the other.

"If any of you try to harm the crystal this runt dies," he roared over the party, his eyes darting now down at the Goblins who had stopped mid fight to stare up at him, as he held Mia three feet off the ground.

Taken by shock Rouhan felt something else grab him by the neck and he was hauled from the crystal, a firm molted hand around his throat. Now lifted till he was face to face with the Emperor, the creature spat at him as he then took Rouhan and rammed him face first into the ground. "Pathetic creature," he roared with absolute fury, his fist flying back and forth as he rammed the Goblin into the ground. "You thought you could defeat me! ME! I am a avatar of the Crystal, a chosen amongst the filth of this world!"

In his rage he continued with this as the general grew distracted by his lords antics, smiling as Mia struggled now against his grip.

The Emperor though after numerous beatings lifted bruised Goblin until he was at eye level with him. "You're a waste of life! Filth upon my robes and a stain upon the glory of the crystal! You are rats, and compared to you I AM A DEMIGOD!"

"Oh really?" Rouhan managed to croak as he nodded to the crystal, a single clawed scratch made into its immaculate surface.

The Emperors scream was deafening as he dropped his prey and ran to the crystal in terror, running his hands along the tiniest scratch, falling to his knees almost in prayer and denial at its now flawed dark beauty.

While the Emperor was in serious denial about what one goblin had done, Rouhan bit the Emperor's hand, taking a good clean chunk. The Szekis rule screamed as he held his gushing wound, letting Rouhan go in the process. The little goblin saw his chance, as he ran to the crystal once again, with everyone looking at the situation. He then grabbed the bottom… and then took a big bite out of it, taking an apple-sized chunk.

The Chamberlain cawed out, "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

The crystal suddenly started cracking, veins glowing and pulsating as they continued to crack further up the crystal. It suddenly hummed louder and louder with all the cracking, until finally, the light shined brighter and hummed louder. Suddenly, the crystal exploded, lighting up the room with the intensity of the first dawn of light. The energies washed over the temple, pushing everyone back, while Rouhan crashed a few feet from the blast radius. The General was thrown off from above, causing Mia to fall right on top of Rouhan's stomach, knocking the wind out of him as well as swallow the fragment, while she was safe and sound, falling flat chest to chest on him. The Podlings were affected most by it, as the energies that swiped in a blast wave washed over them, and in a result, returned them back to normal. Finally, the light died down, as shattered bits of the crystal were strewn about. The Dark Crystal… was no more.

All around Garatin were falling to their knees while a few began to flee out of the room in terror, some wept, others howled and one began to hit himself out of frustration. For the general he just stared in slack jawed horror, while the Chamberlin bawled his eyes out across the floor. The emperor just lay on the ground, knocked prone by the explosion, his decadent robes burned and signed by the blast, his eyes dead and glazed as he murmured to himself in a stupor.

Still things were not quiet for long. The remaining Goblins who were still up were quick to back off as they saw the Podlings coming to. The small creatures were dazed, but were no longer dead and misty, clearing as the color returned to them slowly. Indeed their movements seems more fluid and less formless as they rubbed and even helped one another to their feet - but it was the shrieks of anger that showed they were back to normal.

The small bloated creatures began to yell, their high pitched and welching voices squelching like demented creatures as they pointed at the Garatin who had stayed. They began to gather around the sorry monsters pushing the larger brutes back and around, their anger swelling as more and more began to come back to their senses. And soon the cries of anger turned into a full-fledged riot.

Podlings leapt onto Garatin, scratching and throwing stones, many of the soldiers began to run, while the Chamberlain began to shriek in protest for them to return. "No stand and fight your sorry excuse for warrior, stand and - " He shrieked in shock as three Podlings jumped into his chest and sent him clattering to the ground, the small round beasts now crawling all over him, pulling and clawing at him in a furious rage that grew more clear as the demented cries of defiance turned to horrified pleas for mercy as they began to tear the chamberlain apart.

The Goblins in the room cheered the little creatures on, the green and orange fists raised in a mutual cheer of triumph, a few Goblins leaping on the fleeing soldiers and wrestling them down for Podlings to swarm over as well.

Rouhan and Mia both got up, a little smoky from his mouth. But Mia hugged him, as she cried, "Rouhan! You're alright!"

Though he coughed up a puff of smoke, as he groaned, "Singed… but triumphed."

However, he took notice that Sayako and her troupe were running out of there. He sighed, "Well, I guess we're free. That's all that matters."

Suddenly, a bright light erupted into the room, as the Szekis were running scared, but froze up, as something kept them from leaving. The Mystics from before, once imprisoned and powerless, were hovering in place, glowing brightly, as they looked at the bewildered Szekis and their Garatin.

Lazzor, leading the front, glared at them angrily, as he commanded, "Leave our valley and our peoples alone. And live in the wastelands you created."

His eyes glowed brightly, as their magic soon awoke. The Garatin were shattered, revealing themselves to be empty and hollow, merely brought to life by the dark magic that once floated in their former temple. And the Szekis glowed bright, as the Chamberlain screamed out his whimpers, until finally in a flash… they disappeared. The Mystics returned to the floor as they wobbled over to Rouhan and his friends, as the Podlings cheered their unlikely champions.

Kichi blinked as he still held on to Shino, whose wounds had mysteriously healed leaving only a scar going from her right shoulder to the right side of her chest, going down midway to her nonexistent breast below it and stopping where her ribcage ended. He looked at her and was happy, "Shino! Your wound! It's healed!"

Shino looked at her wound, and was amazed by it, "Yeah." But then she realized she was in Kichi's arms and blushed, "Uh, could you put me down please?"

Kichi blinked, as he gently put her back on her feet, which was an odd thing, since Kichi wasn't known for a gentle giant.

As for the Emperor, he just lay there on the stone floor, unmoving and alive, as he stared about watching his kingdom crumble into dust. All he could mutter was one thing, "How? How could a mere goblin defeat our mighty Dark Crystal? With merely taking a bite out of it?"

"You lost the moment you brought the chosen champion of Gaiseric amongst your people," Lazzor spoke, as he hobbled over to Rouhan and Mia. "Even the Szekis should have known better than to defeat the chosen reincarnation of the Skull King God."

That little tidbit of info had rung around the room in silent. Rouhan looked away, not wanting to answer that question, even as his friends turned to look at him with questions on their minds. But Mia was burning with all questions, as she looked in confusion at the goblin boy she stood side-by-side with.

* * *

 **Later On**

After the Emperor had been banished like the others, albeit he was still in a stupor zombified state, the Mystiks had held a celebration with their Goblin heroes. Even the Podlings seemed eager and friendly towards the goblins, as Mia and Shino were cooing on how cute the Podlings were around them. But now would have been the time to say goodbye, as the Mystiks would try to rebuild their home again and restore the forest around them into a lush forest instead of a barren wasteland eye of the forest storm. But they would not let their goblin saviors go empty handed. The five stood before the Mystiks, as each one was gifted with a rather spectacular, albeit human-sized gift.

Shino was the first, as one of the Mystiks gave forth a lovely battle hammer with a pick-axe back. The hammer was nearly four times her size and girth, but the Mystiks put a spell on it that would enable her to lift it when she was strong enough to lift it up herself. The hammer was brown but embroiled with orange and topaz materials, the handle was orange with a brown handle leather parts, with the tip having a topaz gem embedded into it.

"This is the Warhammer of Gia: a weapon and a tool for those in tuned with the Earth," a scientific-looking Mystik explained, as Shino's eyes sparkled as she marveled at the hammer she was given. "Use it well in battle, and allow the Earth to shift and mold under your strength, Shino."

It was Seiji's turn, as he was given a green hooded cloak with silver patterns resembling vines. "This is the Cloak of Typhoon. Sewn into it are the spirits of Wind itself. They will enable you to run faster and jump higher than anyone who you come across," the Mystik explained as Seiji graciously accepted it. "Always be kind to them and ask for their help; they will listen if you ask."

Kichi's gift was a mighty double bladed crescent moon axe that looked too big for him to wield. The inside was red with yellow claw markings pointing outward with the silver blade. The handle was silver and red, but mostly red, as it was designed to be held by two hands, but in reality, only to be weld by one hand. "This is the Demon Fame Axe. Forged by Hephaestus and given to the Minotaurs," the Mystiks explained, as Kichi took the axe but nearly faltered. "The Flames will cut and burn only by its user's emotional state. Wield it well, Kichi."

It was a quiet dignity that Rouhan and Mia were called forward, their footsteps gently crossing the quiet hall as the eyes of the podlings, Oni and fellow Goblins rested upon them. The Mystiks were all swelling with pride as the two stepped up to the front of the grand hall, Lazzor standing before them in new resplendent robes as he beamed down at them both.

Two Podlings walked over to Mia, carrying with them a beautifully crafted bow. It was white with blue elvish designs on it, with the string almost glowing like silver, and on the ends of the bow, as well as the front were pincer-shaped silver daggers. "The bow of Legoilas. Forged by the Dark Elves and baptized by the Wood Elves, this bow carries with it the strength and magic of those that have wielded it before others," Lazzor explained, as Mia joyfully took the bow. "For someone whose aim is true, we gift this to you, Lady Mia."

Rouhan looked to Lazzor as the final gift was given to him, covered and wrapped in a cloth. When Rouhan took it, he unfurled it to get a better look, and was confused to say the least. It looked like an old cleaver sword, forged completely black, but with three cracks leading to a gap in the blade. "This was Ragnarok: the sword that was once wielded by Gaiseric himself before his ascend to Godhood."

Rouhan looked confused, as he stated the state of the blade, "But… it's broken."

"Not forever, Rouhan," Lazzor replied, giving assurance to the little goblin before him. "Once you understand your own magic, and learn to use it… I believe in time you will not only discover a way to reforge the sword, but to use it to unlock your true potential when you have knowledge of it."

Rouhan lifted the blade up with some difficulty, the blade, like the rest of the gifts being made for a person too large for someone of their size to really gain any worth out of it. But for Rouhan his eyes would narrow as he ran his palm along the dull black and dented edges and held out the blade as if that would reveal its secrets to him. But no answers came.

"Do not worry child," the Mystik said with warmth in every word. "Few heroes know their path, fewer still know they are treading it, but I am sure with time you will find your way."

"Yeah really interesting," he called haughtily as the group turned around to face their friends. "But why the heck is the deal? All of these things too big?" He pointed up to the cloak he was now wearing, its hem trailing along the ground behind him, the actual hood covering his eyes and face as it almost drowned him in its cloth.

Indeed all the tools were a tad too large, with Shino falling backwards as she tried to lift the hammer over her head to test it out, while Kichi's began to try and haul the oversized axe behind himself as he tried to pick up the axe that was almost as big as he was.

Lazzor managed a small chuckle, but his eyes darted away from the cross half hidden stare of Seiji and quietly muttered, "You'll grow into them."

Rouhan blinked for a moment, and then smiled, as he nodded, "Thank you."

"These are mere gifts to help you on the trail. We are still forever grateful to you all, to your deeds done today," Lazzor said, with an elderly smile, as he looked to them all. "If you are in ever need of a home, you can come here to stay, or we can help find a home more suitable to your adjustments and understanding."

Rouhan bowed, "Thank you."

* * *

 **Next Chapter: Reason to Grow Strong; Befriending Allies and Foreseeable Futures**


End file.
